Should we eat like our children?
Today I am not writing about boobs or celebrities or celebrities with big boobs or celebrities who are big boobs.
I was going to write about something different altogether, something inspirational, something radical, something to make your jaw drop (something I’m going to have be pull out of the bag now I’ve made those statements!)
Anyway, that will have to hold because last week I was really intrigued by Dave Fowler’s last post Do You Eat Like A Dog?
Intriged because I sat here reading it thinking ‘yes, yes, yes. That perfectly describes how I used to eat’. And I think we are all guilty of this to some degree.
Whether you’re bolting your dinner down because you have something pressing to do, or because the children are making demands of you, or you know that you’ve got to get the ironing done/watch ER etc and you’ve only got 15 minutes to spare.
How many times have you eaten a meal and not actually tasted it?
Shocking I know when you actually think about it, but I have done this same thing many many times.
I’ve even stood and eaten my dinner from the dish I cooked it in because I didn’t have time to serve it up!
And then I thought, but these things have all been learned. They are in our subconscious and it has almost becomes second nature to do it. As Dave said, you have to actually tell to yourself to slow down.
Watching my two children eat has been a bit of a revelation.
They eat at their own pace. They put their knife and fork down between mouthfuls. They chew and chew and chew. They finish the minute they have had enough.
I think we could all learn something from children.
They are clearly eating the way we used to before we became so busy we started shovelling it in.
They haven’t been tainted by experience. They have no real demands on their time.
And if they’re not hungry they simply won’t eat.
There is a strict rule in this house that ‘treats’ are never allowed between meals and only after you’ve eaten your dinner.
And yes, they always ALWAYS want something, but I can honestly say that many times they don’t actually eat it because they are full up.
That’s how I want to be.
So today I spent the whole day with my 3-year-old daughter and watched her. Really watched her.
We ate breakfast together and I finished way ahead of her.
We ate lunch and I tried to slow right down to match her pace.
And we ate tea when we were hungry and it lasted aaaages. But we chatted and joked ad it was actually kinda fun.
From now on my aim is to eat food for a. fuel and b. to enjoy it.
And tomorrow night the food fest begins with Hungarian goulash. Yum!
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7 Responses to “Should we eat like our children?”
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So I should take an hour and a half to eat at my daughter’s pace? hmm. (/wink)
Though it wouldn’t hurt to slow down and be more sociable at the table that’s for sure. Even the other day with company – we hurried eating to get on to playing games. Playing games was fun – but we could have eaten more slowly (thus eating less) and played games at the same time.
Avlor’s last blog post..Transition Gloves
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Tara Cain Reply:
January 27th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
I have a friend whose son is just the S L O W E S T eater ever!
I’m looking for something inbetween!
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I have to consciously tell myself to eat slowly. I’m hit or miss with my success. Most of the time I eat like a wolverine, but I’m trying to set a better example.
Writer Dad’s last blog post..Reading Online, Chew Before You Swallow
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Tara Cain Reply:
January 27th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
“Most of the time I eat like a wolverine” – you and me both, Writer Dad!
But you’ve hit the nail on the head with the setting the good example. I’ve caught myself bolting my sandwich down while stood at the counter doing something else and I should be sat there at the table with my children and now showing them how to be hogs!
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Good post! However, I don’t think my wife would appreciate me eating like our 21 month old son.
6:00 p.m. – We put him the highchair.
6:01 – He starts eating just fine.
6:04 – He begins kicking back and forth on the chair because he likes the LOUD sound it makes. At that point, we remember to take off his shoes.
6:05 – He throws his fork for the first time.
6:06 – He holds some food in his fist as we coax him NOT to throw it and to EAT as we mime eating and rub our tummies saying “Mmmmm”
6:06:27 – He throws food across the room
6:08 – Cries because he wants to eat with his fork. “Okay”, we say, “but you can’t throw it.”
6:09 – WHACK, he throws fork.
6:10 = more crying
6:11 – crying gets louder. Throws more food.
6:12 – Begins to put different pieces of food on top of his head entertaining the audience in his head.
6:14 – Cries for fork.
6:15 – We give him fork.
6:20 – sitting there, not finishing his food, wants down.
6:21 – We have to play the “here comes the airplane” game with his food so he will eat a decent amount of it.
6:30 – Clean him off, rush him to tub.
9:00 p.m. – Once he is in bed, I go back and eat whatever I couldn’t at dinner time.
Hey, no wonder I’m losing weight!
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Tara Cain Reply:
January 27th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Sounds like a riot in your house.
Maybe you should try sitting in a high chair where you can’t get at anything and daddy keeps trying to shove an aeroplane in your mouth, then see how much you like it!
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I eat most of my meals alone. Tonight I ate while watching the news for 30 minutes.
This is a no no but I wanted the conversational aspect of not being alone.
I made myself a beautiful supper and put it on a beautiful plate and ate the fish and salad slowly during the whole news program. I thanked myself for making such nice food and eating carefully. This felt very nice.
When my family is home I eat much faster as I will have to get up and down several times during the meal and they all eat so slowly it drives me a big crazy. So I provide much of the conversation
I wish I could think of food as just fuel, I think that would be lovely as it is I think of food as LOVE.
My square of chocolate is melting on my tongue as I write this.
Patricia’s last blog post..Pooh Patrol
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