A Million Meals

We have more food options than any previous generation of parents, but if you give your child take-out, pre-packaged or processed food every day, you are at risk of having your Good Parenting card revoked. Changing a few things about your routine and attitude can make a big improvement in how you feel about that dreadful parade of family meals stretching past the horizon.

Parents make most, if not all, food and health choices for our young children: the pressure of that constant decision-making, plus our primal drive to ensure they survive and thrive, creates a potent stew of emotions that makes us particularly vulnerable both to magical thinking about food and to those who exploit it.

A holiday meal has the benefit of allowing you to cook for an occasion that has two rare qualities—time and respect—built in.

It seems especially cruel and strange that mothers often pass down a legacy of self-hatred, guilt and shame to the very children for whom they would otherwise lay down their own lives.

I want to pass on a legacy of truly healthy eating to my daughters. Owning my own mistakes along the way is part of this journey.

The pressure on parents to control or manage their child’s body shape is intense.

Cross-Cultural Psychology

Seeking a Balance in Feeding Children

Zanthe Taylor M.F.A. on September 18, 2014

The ever-shifting winds of food trends make feeding children more complicated than ever. Parents' fears, nested in the poor state of Western food culture, have eroded competence at one of parents' most basic tasks: nourishing children into healthy, happy adulthood.

The ever-shifting winds of food trends make feeding children more complicated than ever. Parents' fears, nested in the poor state of Western food culture, have eroded competence at one of parents' most basic tasks: nourishing children into healthy, happy adulthood.

A college friend wanted to know: would she be happy if she decided to leave her job right now to focus on, as we say these days, “staying home”?

Anxiety

Independence in Tweens' Eating Habits

Zanthe Taylor M.F.A. on April 8, 2014

As a parent, I get tested every day on how well I implement my strategy of moderate control over my kids' eating habits, and I’m happy to report that for ten years it has worked well for us. And then my daughter entered middle school.

As a parent, I get tested every day on how well I implement my strategy of moderate control over my kids' eating habits, and I’m happy to report that for ten years it has worked well for us. And then my daughter entered middle school.

I could never have imagined that the morning after the Oscars would find me thinking about dyslexia and its challenges.

While we don’t have as much influence as we might wish over our child’s body type and shape, we do have enormous power as parents in one related area: how our children feel about eating, weight, exercise, and so forth.

It is so tempting to view our children as extensions or reflections of ourselves. But when, exactly, does it become not merely desirable but essential to accept how definitively our children are Not Us?

Too often, it takes having or knowing a child with an eating disorder to make parents understand how harmful many prevailing practices around food can be. One example of many is the current way we discuss and practice restrictive eating, once quaintly known as “dieting" but now rebranded as a healthy behavior.

Diet

Break Your Food Rules

Zanthe Taylor M.F.A. on September 27, 2013

One huge mistake parents make these days is trying to control their child’s health and body by imposing rules on what they can and can’t eat. These rules, however well-intentioned, send children absolutely the wrong messages.

One huge mistake parents make these days is trying to control their child’s health and body by imposing rules on what they can and can’t eat. These rules, however well-intentioned, send children absolutely the wrong messages.

It’s far more pleasurable and sustainable to cook from a sense of tradition and for friends and family, feelings which are happily heightened at holiday meals, than from feelings of guilt or inadequacy.

Like many people my age, especially those with parents who grew up in post-war Europe, I was raised to feel that it is a sin—albeit a minor one—to leave food on my plate.

One of the apparent birthrights of American womanhood is our endless commiseration over how much we all hate our appearance.

At long last, attention is shifting to how we eat, with a new focus on the larger forces determining our consumption patterns, on what foods are available to most Americans, and on what kinds of food experiences we have—for example, meals eaten out versus meals cooked at home.

As most of my friends know, I am not a fan of “cleanses.” The idea that we need to be cleansed is rooted in a guilt that is quintessentially American, and the result is a deep internal conflict.

A child whose parents are constantly haranguing him about food, whether it’s to eat more vegetables or less sugar, is a child who grows up viewing eating as a battleground and a tool for manipulation.