So I myself don't have any children, yet, but I'm really enjoying this dialogue on baby led weaning and trying to build a positive food relationship in children. I'm just curious, what do you do in regards to over eating as the child gets older? Like a 6 year old who loves to eat but is now realizing their size in relation to other kids their age? It seems like such a tricky situation. Would you just control the options of food, but still have them try everything (within the options provided)?
Well, it’s hard for me to speak to that specifically because it’s not a situation I have dealt with. But mostly I’d say modeling good behavior is best, and healthy food choices should be modeled and encouraged. I talk about calories with my children, but only from a biochemical standpoint, like they know calories are like gas for a car. We don’t aside values such as good foods or bad foods, but we have “always foods” and “sometimes foods.” They know that “always foods” such as produce, plain yogurt with nuts or jam, air popped popcorn, etc are always available if they are hungry. If they don’t want to eat those choices, then they are encouraged to find something to do other than eating. Kids go through chubby and skinny phases and I would never put a young child on any kind of restrictive diet - just help them make nutritious decisions.