Women's World

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 254, 25 October 1919, Page 20

Women's World

CATERING FOR CHILDREN. Any woman with experience of tbe ■rays of children knows that it is not always easy to eater for them. Tbe nursery people have strong likes ana dislikes, especially when delicate and lacking in appetite. Fat is a necessary portion of our food, and yet many children have a great distaste for it exce?t_ perhaps in the shape of butter. wbieiTstill is not; easy to obtain. While it is important that children should as far as possible be taught to eat what is given to themi without unnecessary discussion, it is use-] less to force them "to eat food which is absolutely repugnant. It is better toj have recourse to strategy. i The child who will not touch fat mev.t or even butter will not detect the fat in a carefully made suet pudding, or butter or finely shredded suet if addeil to a milk pudding. I have also known a child who was the despair of its mother and nurse beca_se he refused any kind of fat which he recognised as tat.' eat with appetite butter coloured green with parsley and faintly flavoured with anchovy. Some children are very tiresome about eating milk fooils such as cornflour, ground rice, or blancmange, but when by the inspiration of the cook tht "shape"' was coloured pink it met with approval. Porridge, of course. Is one of tbe most wholesome breakfast dishes for children over three or four, and taken -with plenty 01 milk forms a perfect diet. Cheese has a high food value, but should not be given to children under six as it is not very digestible. Over that age it can be eaten either mixed with other foods or, better still, grated and used for sandwiches. Sugar is a neessity, as it supplies heat and energy, and simple sweets are desirable. In some nurseries and in many schools the children suffer from lack of variety in their diet. The plan of arranging a menu for the week so that the child knows just what be will be expected to eat on each day in the week shows a great lack of intelligence on the part of the caterer, and is bad for the child. As regards quantity, that well-known authority E. I. Spriggs. M.D., F.R.C.P., cays that a normal child oz six requires two-thirds as much food as an adult, a girl of 13 as much as her mother, and a boy of the same age possibly more than his father. A child of two or over should have an egg every other day, and on the alternate days at least 2oz of meat, fish, or poultry. At this age a large amount of _____ and bread should be taken, and cereals in the form of very well-cooked I milk puddings. A child up to five years should he given green vegetables rather sparingly, and they should be cooked and finely ehredded. Fruit should be peeled and

cooked for children from two to 6i_. years of age, as the skins are apt to cause indigestion. Fried food is not good, nor is any highly seasoned food ' or pickles. Pastry and rich cakes should J also be avoided. Pulse foods, though • very nourishing and containing a large amount of protein, are not good for young children. If pulse foods must be used they should be passed through a sieve, as this eliminates the tough 1 skins. 1 Children from two to five years of age ' should have 1_ pints of milk a day; "• their main food should consist of milk, ! bread, butter (margarine only if butter 1 is not obtainable), and dripping, which - is most nourishing; oatmeal porridge, '1 or maize meal porridge, or bread and 'j milk, milk puddings, junket, eggs, fish. I minced cooked meat, gravy, chicken, < mashed potatoes, raw fruit juice, and '< stewed fruit 'without the skin in moderation, mashed raw bananas and milk. ; Up to three -years of acre patent trroats 1 should bo substituted for oatmeal, and 1 cream of barley soup can be given,