HEALTH.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 4652, 2 February 1935, Page 6

HEALTH.

CUSSED APPETITES

The child is born, with a whole set of evolved instincts, including the instinct to eat enough food to nourish the body. This acts quite apart from thought and logic. The baby does not think; “Now I’m hungry and must cry for food.” The process is automatic.

Ideally, if this instinct is allowed full play the parents do no more than make the food accessible to the child. But very many parents allow their love to find unwise expression and try to force food on the child.

In the early days during teething, the baby is often not able to digest his usual amount of food, and instinctively refuses some. If his mother understands she allows him to take less, and all is well. If she persuades him to take his usual, ration, diarrhoea, sickness and peevishness are almost inevitable. Children rightly reseat this interference, and in a blind, instinctive way try to put things right. Most commonly they will show signs of negativism, or cussedness. This is very easy to see, a few years later, in two types of children. In each case the child opposes the influence brought to bear on him. When food is withheld he wants more, when food is pressed upon him, _he wants less.

It is amazing to see how intelligently a child will feed himself if his parents have successfully schooled themselves to stand aside. The best way to avoid the development of an abnormal appetite in your child is to stand aside and allow him to decide how much food he needs, and some freedom in what food he chooses. If you are in difficulty with a bad appetite which you suspect may be due to one of these causes, try this formula: “Put the child and food together and let them mix.”