Caleb Brown, NDFS 100, 11/20/14

Division of Responsibility

So, mom, you are an expert. You took an amazing nutrition class back in the college

days, NDFS 100 with Dr. Pauline Williams with Chelsea as a TA, and aced it! Eye-opening,

sure, but totally understandable, and you have implemented numerous beneficial tips and

facts from credible resources that you still turn too in your daily life to help you be happy and

healthy. You’re awesome at balancing your diet—getting all the right nutrients from all the

different food groups. Dad, you weren’t so blessed in the route you took to experience the

wonders of food and nutrition through thorough lectures with plentiful examples, engaging

assignments, and tough but reasonable tests with humorous jokes every other page, but

figured out how to bulk up and stay healthy all on your own. You made intelligent decisions

about what to eat, how much to take in, and how to listen to your body for how it responds.

Now with this dream-team parenting duo, you figure how hard will it be to feed your smart,

healthy, energy-filled little kiddos?

Well, let me tell you, as much as little Jon and Susy Q. want to put on their reading

glasses and take a visit to the Nutrition Evidence Library and ChooseMyPlate.gov, or venture

fork-first into the wonderful world of mushed up carrots and sweet potato goo on their own,

they just are going to need a tiny bit of help (for starters, choosing a spoon over a fork for the

aforementioned lunch would probably be a bit more beneficial). However, as Ellyn Satter

states (Registered Dietitian and Diplomat in Clinical Social Work), “At every stage, parents

take leadership with feeding and let the child be self-directed with eating.” So Mr. and Mrs.

Incredible, as much as you would like to tackle the feeding of your kids by either total

assistance or reserving them to figure things out on their own, it’s going to be a whole family

1

affair to take out the bad guys, like “Malicious Malnutrition” and “Overbearing Obesity—now

don’t worry about these vicious villains, your kids can be super too.

Let’s break it down: Ellyn states, “The parent is responsible for what.” and “The child is

responsible for how much (and everything else)”. Well that’s not too bad. Pick wisely at the

beginning, as you did with the carrots and sweet potatoes, and moderate. Don’t let them get

the point where they’re orange in the face, but let them be a part of the feeding equation.

This helps too: “Parents choose breast- or formula-feeding, help the infant be calm and

organized, then feed smoothly, paying attention to information coming from the baby about

timing, tempo, frequency, and amounts.” Ellyn’s a superstar when it comes to this stuff, but

it’s not that hard to be rocking parents too as we can see from this advice. As your young get

older, let them focus on when they feel full. Leftovers are ok—don’t be too overbearing in

letting them stuff their face, even if you need to say “You can eat more when you’re older”

around Thanksgiving time. A sacrifice, I know, but it’s for the kids. And do eat together—it

doesn’t always have to be Thanksgiving everyday as much as dad would like it to be but

make it a point to at least sit and enjoy some food together. Your children will appreciate this

and learn from this experience, as I know I always appreciated this growing up (it helps that

my mom was a killer cook as well!).

Well mac n’ cheese and hot dogs! You know what you two? I now have so much faith

in the feeding leadership that you’ve mustered up for your kids. And do remember to trust in

them too, as Ellyn says. I mean, you two turned out ok, right? So, trust your children to be

smart and strong too. Please do utilize this information as well—always be responsible for

what they take in, let them understand a bit themselves on how much that should be, eat

together oft, and trust that you can put trust in them. With all of this I know you’ll do great!

2