Comments on: Concerned About Your Child’s Eating Habits? Ellyn Satter Has Answers

By: Li Kendrick

Li Kendrick — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 14:30:36 +0000

When my son was little, he would want sweet treats, I finally thought of a solution we both could be happy with… we had to make our own chocolate chip cookies. I would keep the dough in the frig & scoop out a portion & cook in the toaster oven. He would have to wait at least 10 minutes after that he almost wasn’t interested. We also made our own ice cream & French fries. He has that CC recipe memorized! He’s 22 now & a somewhat healthy eater, much better than most of his buddies!

By: Emily

Emily — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 18:23:34 +0000

In reply to James.

This fear of sugar in our generation is akin to the fear of fat in the 90s (that we all laugh about now.) And that fear of fat launched a whole bunch of eating disorders, without much in the way of positive health outcomes. IMO, this fear of sugar will do much of the same. I don’t want my daughter to live in fear of food like I have for so many years. Our kids will be faced with having to choose their foods long after we are done parenting them, and if they haven’t had access to sugary, delicious foods throughout their lives, it opens the door to binging behavior once they are out of the house. I think that’s the whole point of offering them alongside one another – it takes away the draw if its just treated like any other food.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Sat, 07 May 2022 00:04:51 +0000

In reply to Elizabeth Fingleton. I would like to hear Janet or Ellyn’s response to this as well. I have a 7 year old picky eater who is capable of getting her own snacks (cereal, crackers, toast) if there is nothing on her dinner plate that she wants. Since listening to this podcast, I’ve decided to start offering one of those snacks she would just go get herself has a “safe food” with her dinner.

By: Denise

Denise — Fri, 06 May 2022 13:51:58 +0000

Thank you for this really informative article. I realised part -way through this article that I have already read your book on feeding your child with love! I have happily already taken on some points, but it’s a good reminder to improve things at the table – I used to be much more hands-off but slowly I’ve been slipping and doing more and more bribing to get my children to eat another mouthful – so grateful to catch this now. Btw, the hands-off and trusting does work, my children eat a huge variety of foods with enjoyment.
The point I found most challenging to understand is the plate of biscuits freely available. I do control food by not buying biscuits, sweets, or chocolates :-/ . I grew up without these in the household, but given 20p occasionally to buy sweets with, and when I was older I did buy these things but in small quantities and occasionally, because I was used to them not being a normal every day food. I’d feel like I’m sabotaging my children’s health by giving them a plate of biscuits, would this be regularly, or I don’t know how regular these foods should be?

By: Elizabeth Fingleton

Elizabeth Fingleton — Fri, 06 May 2022 11:08:34 +0000

Hi Janet,

I love what Ellen is saying here and I plan to implement this soon as mealtimes are full of bribes right now and it just can’t go on like this. My question is for this to work I presume you have to get a fridge and cupboard lock as my 3 year old boy helps himself to fruit and yoghurt whenever he wants and sometimes if it’s close to dinner time and I don’t want him to snack I have a struggle to take them off him. We’ve just moved house so there’s no child locks on anything yet! Curious to know if other children help themselves to food or is all food out of reach until the adult sanctioned meal time?

Thanks so much for all the great work you do!

By: James

James — Fri, 06 May 2022 01:37:35 +0000

Some decent information here, but I cannot possibly think of worse advice than allowing ice cream and other sweets to be served along with a meal. A plate of cookies likely gives more refined sugar than your child should eat in a month. Serving it to them in the first place is incredibly irresponsible. What a disappointing addition to an otherwise uplifting and educational resource on parenting.