Sunday 4 September 2022

How to get children to eat their food: 02 (London)

The two boys (aged 7 and 4.5) that I babysit now and then will take ages to finish their food.  (Confession: I was a difficult eater myself as a child — taking ages over half a bowl of rice.)

They also often say the portions are too big and they can’t finish it all.

One day, I decided to try a new trick.  With a spoon, I drew a line down the middle of the lasagne they were having for dinner that evening, and said, “You eat this half, I’ll help you with the other half if you can’t eat it, OK?”  Readily and eagerly accepted, and they started eating.

Half way through the meal, their spoon crossed the line a bit into the other half.  I said, “Oh!  Your spoon’s touched that half now, so you’ll have to eat it, since I won’t.”

(London, 2022)

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