Formation of Appetite

The formation of Christian character in the area of a child's appetite is one of the most complex and interesting tasks. We parents deal not only with a little person, but also with their carnal nature, the influence of the world and environment, with attacks from the enemy of the soul, who unleashes their temptations on our children, wanting to make them slaves of base inclinations of the soul and through this have access to their will.

One should not forget that the very first sin was committed under the influence of human appetite, and what catastrophic consequences intemperance led to! But God did not give up and offers all people His help and wisdom in this struggle, knowing what forces parents face.

Many features in a child's nutrition depend not only on their desire and appetite, but also stem from understanding, worldview and agreement of parents in this sphere. An infant does not yet know what is good and what is bad, but seeing order and norm in nutrition, accepts this as a matter of course. They have their own internal limiters and their own needs, about which they can loudly declare and make everyone understand what they like and what they don't.

If a child refuses some healthy and ordinary food, then father or mother should not panic and look for a replacement so that their child eats something. A child may refuse any food according to their internal feelings, but if they receive a replacement, then their mind notes this for itself, and next time they may try to consciously refuse in order to get something else. Here wisdom and intuition of parents is needed to understand the baby's true motives. If the food is usual, quality and healthy, then one should not panic, but wait a little and offer it again. One can come up with an interesting comment about the next portion or show how tasty it is to you. And if this did not work, then finish the meal until next time, not replacing it with something more tasty.

If there are several dishes on the table, and the child can choose what they eat first and what later, then it's not terrible if they won't eat food they don't like. But after their refusal of food, one cannot bring something else from the side so they eat. Children do not understand that diet should be varied. They are accustomed from childhood to sucking the same mother's milk, and therefore when they receive the same porridge, this does not outrage them.

Sometimes due to their busyness, a child simply doesn't want anything. Or if they drank a lot of water, then they see no point in food. The stomach gives a signal about its fullness, and there is refusal of food. Parents need to understand the reason for refusal and watch that children drink nothing right before eating.

A baby busy with affairs may miss from attention that they need to eat, and consider lunch time something unimportant. But the taste of food that mom will let them try will remind them of this event, and they will willingly open their mouth for the next portion.

When parents remove food until next time in response to refusal to eat, then they should convey to the child's consciousness that they will receive nothing, since lunch is on schedule. The baby may later come to their senses and start asking for food, but here parents' wisdom is needed not to accustom the child to self-will, but to make them understand that there is order in the house.

During illness, children may refuse any food for extended periods. One should not fear this. Such functions are embedded in the body that protect it from unnecessary overloads so it can restore order itself. Appetite will definitely return when immunity performs its work.

Visiting friends or joint dinners at church can be exceptions in the baby's daily routine, and this can strongly influence young consciousness, destroying the usual schedule. While the child is small, a mother, foreseeing such situations, should take familiar children's food with her and feed her child separately. If this is impossible, then it is necessary to discuss the menu and schedule of your feeding in advance so that friends relate to your principles with understanding.

Although separate meetings do not violate home order, they introduce into the child's life a new vision of the world and possibilities that they remember. No matter how interesting the meeting with friends may be, parents' attention should be with their child and their activities. But when vacation time or long-term trips from home come, the children's feeding regimen should not be changed to accommodate temporary change of environment.

Great harm to training a child's appetite can be caused by the closest people. Our parents sometimes love our children more than us and are ready to give them everything best and expensive that they did not spoil their own children with. Before giving them your child for temporary care, it is worth making sure that their nutrition principles do not diverge from yours, and that you are the main manager in raising your son or daughter. Children do not always tell how and what they were fed, and parents may hide the whole truth, so all these questions should be seriously discussed in advance.

I know one family where a mother, going on vacation with her three-year-old daughter, ended up in the hospital with appendicitis, and the daughter was taken by an unbelieving mother-in-law for the time of the mother's hospital stay. For more than a week she was with her granddaughter at her home and accustomed her to her rules. Knowing the parents' principles, she decided to feed the girl what she herself ate, including unclean food, which she then boasted about, declaring that no one died, and the child was satisfied eating "normal" food. The girl's parents were very saddened by such a situation and then never gave their daughter into their mother's care.

Even if your grandson is your direct relative, one should always remember that their parents are above you and bear responsibility before God for raising their child. Therefore, before taking anyone from them, it is necessary to learn the order and principles of their family, especially in feeding, and adapt these principles to yourself, not the other way around.

Spoiling a child's appetite and breaking all their principles can be done very quickly, but to raise a worthy person requires persistent work, steadfastness, patience and many prayers.

There is another vice that can very often be observed in church. When you come to worship with your children, who are dressed in their best clothes and are very elegant, causing tenderness among the brethren, then "good people" are found who stock up on tasty candies and begin to treat your child with them without your permission. And where can children go? They joyfully take everything they are given. And there are such brethren who even unwrap these candies and try to shove them directly into your baby's mouth. What to do in such cases? We usually took these "gifts" from the child's hands and thanked for the treat, and then talked with these compassionate people and politely asked them not to do this, since we don't like it and it contradicts our principles. Some listened to us with understanding, while others were offended, but we were strict in this matter and did not make a dining room with exquisite delicacies out of worship. And our nutrition schedule was built so that no meals fell during worship times, except for breastfeeding.

1. Please read 1 Cor. 8:8,13; 10:3; Isa. 7:14-15; Heb. 5:12-14; Judg. 13:3-4; Prov. 22:6; 23:1-3; Luke 1:13-15; 24:41-43; Rom. 14:15-17; Ps. 78:29-33 in light of this chapter.

2. What other verses came to your mind?

3. What did you understand from this chapter?

4. Why is formation of proper appetite in children so important?

5. What consequences does intemperance or ignorance in food carry?

6. Why do small children always look for opportunity to switch to wrong nutrition, as long as it's tasty?

7. What role does the hormone dopamine play in nutrition?

8. Why when a child refuses healthy and tasty food, cannot it be replaced with other food?

9. Can a mother's fear that her child won't eat force her to make concessions to her baby's whims and feed them what they demand?

10. What to do if a child wants to eat only candies and throws away everything else?

11. Why is it easier to instill proper taste and discipline in food intake to a small child than to an adult?

12. Can you call your food tasty, healthy and corresponding to health reform?

13. What to do if the child's appetite is already spoiled, and this problem only now became clear to me?

14. What role does parents' prayer play in forming appetite in a child?