Food Strike

I am going to start sharing my experiences instituting the wise series in our family a little bit better going forward. I will probably organize and re-organize the blog labels as time passes, so bare with me. Additionally, when Manna arrives I HOPE I am able to write about not only the newborn experiences all over again but also about the transition from one to two children. With that, today i would like to discuss the topic of FOOD STRIKES.

"On Becoming PreToddler Wise" focuses on ages 12-18 months. I did not know this book even existed and the timing of my discovery could not have been more perfect. During the 12-18 month age babies really begin to start exerting their will...in everything. This is particularly noticeable after they master walking, which for us was not until 14-15 months! Food strikes is one way that children will exert their will.

A FOOD STRIKE is when a child completely refuses a previously favorite food; I mean they will not even TASTE it. When this happens you have two choices:

1. Give in and give your child something else to eat even though you already spent time and thought preparing what you already gave them. Risk? You may create a picky eater. Remember, who is in charge here? You or a one year old? A one year old is clearly not capable of making sound, logical decisions.
2. Persevere by teaching the child obedience (discussed in my experiences below); remember it is BIG PICTURE here. Obedience at the table translates into other areas like SLEEPING for those of you struggling with that :)

Before I proceed, remember that it IS natural for children to begin developing preferences but as you may recall this scenario is about a previously FAVORITE FOOD. Pre-Toddler wise recommends working to feed your child things that they find enjoyable, which I agree with completely. But this does not mean offering five different things at a meal until you finally find something that tickles their ever changing pallet. Use your judgement whether this is a battle of wills or an off day.

Here is our story....Addison loves cream of spinach with lentils and brown rice. She always gobbles it up. One evening at her usually dinner time, she saw them and rejected them before they were even heated up and in front of her; she showed NO signs of illness either. These were all the clear signs that it is a battle of wills.

First we gave her the benefit of the doubt that she was just not hungry yet. We gave her no more milk and nothing else to eat for about 45 minutes. Next we sat her in the high chair in the most secluded area possible, put a reduced amount of food in front of her and we sat at the table ignoring her. She signed all done a million times, did anything to get attention and yes she cried. We stayed to supervise ensuring she did not break any rules (throw her food, pick up her bowl, etc) or choke of course. She carried on for an hour and as quickly as the crying began, it stopped. As if making peace with the food, she stared at it, picked up her spoon and at all of it. We praised her and praised her for obeying. We gave her the remaining components of her meal which she ate gleefully.

I wish I could report that all battle of wills have ended, but that is not the case. She still pushes it, but so far has not held out an hour. Everything we did was at the prompting of the pre-toddler wise book and I am SO thankful we tried it AND even more thankful it worked. Much to my surprise, the turn of events was EXACTLY like the real-life example given in the book.

I have so much more to say on the food topic, but I will continue my thoughts in another post later. I hope at least one reader is encouraged by this story---encouraged that the principles of the wise series do work AND that these small learning opportunities payoff in the long run.