THE CHILD WHO WILL NOT EAT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19903, 24 September 1926, Page 15

THE CHILD WHO WILL NOT EAT.

If there is somethng you very much want your child to do, the last thing to attempt is direct persuasion. Children have a way of doing just the opposite. A good example of this general principle is to be found in the efforts to cope with the child who does not eat. Mothers come to me and say, “I have left no stone unturned to get him to take his food. I have wheedled him, I have offered him dainties. I have ordered him and I have begged of him to eat, but it’s no use.” It is very hard to persuade such a mother that in one sense she has convicted herself of at least four errors in child management. No child can resist an opportunity of becoming a very Important pMson. He is so small and insignificant, anti grown-ups are so very, very grown-up. It is inevitable that as soon as he discovers anything at all to focus special attention upon himself he is not going to let it go in a hurry. If, that is, he finds the whole family becomes hot and bothered when one day he fails to eat his dinner, he in effect says to himself, ‘‘Dear me, how important children are who don’t eat their dinner. 1 must do it again.” And his next attempt is usually crowned with even greater success! The principle to guide us is (his. Children will make almost any sacrifice to be noticed; they love to create anxieties and feelings of helplessness in their elders. It compensates them for being so tiny and helpless themselves. My advice to mothers is: If you want your child to eat don’t let him know you do. Put the food there, and if at the end of meal-time it has not been eaten, quite casually take It away. Betray no emotion, and show no weakness if the child, having refused food at the proper time, asks for it between meals. Hunger will achieve what your persuasions and coaxings have always failed to achieve. When the child finds he cannot draw attention to himself by acts of naughtiness such as refusing to eat, he may try acts of virtue Instead. Don’t imagine that if you don't force him to eat he will starve himself to death. No child ever does. But, oh, how difficult It Is to convince mothers of that simple truth.—Glasgow Weekly Herald.