Culture of Nutrition

Unity in principles of forming Christian character in a child begins long before their appearance. Foundations and understanding of holiness are laid in parents' hearts even before they became adults and met each other. Choice of life companion, unity of mind, personal obedience to God also lay the correct foundation for successful upbringing of the future generation.

It is good to have developed intuition and ability to foresee many dangers when forming personality, but at the same time it is necessary to possess knowledge of what and how to do, and what should be avoided when developing a young personality for preparation for life in Heavenly abodes. My family's experience is insufficient to delve into child psychology and learn the laws of interaction of their soul with the external and internal world. Although worldly sources of information include much useful knowledge, they do not teach how to attach the child's soul to Christ and help children have personal relationships with their Savior.

If we do not have spiritual unity in our family, or our family hierarchy is composed incorrectly, then in the matter of raising children we will not have that unity that creates authority for father and mother in the child's eyes. A mother constantly arguing with her husband in the presence of young witnesses will not possess authority among her household members, and it will be difficult for them to respect their father with such an approach. We read in Job 14:4: "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!"

A friendly spirit between spouses is transmitted to their offspring as well. Family, discipline and order are not only a set of rules, but also relationships, communication, mutual respect and honoring of another's opinion and desires.

A mother, preparing food for a child, is guided not only by the feeding schedule, but also by understanding of their child's physical needs. She considers their tastes and age. She teaches children to trust her in this matter.

When the whole family sits together at the table whenever possible and thanks God for everything He gives them for food, then something interesting happens in the spiritual unity of all members. And further communication at the table forms the special atmosphere of this home. Not all table conversations can have religious character, but family members' love for each other gives special taste to any chosen topic. Joy and mutual attachment make any meal a celebration. And tasty and healthy food gives such communication a special atmosphere of friendliness, in which it is very useful to share wise instructions, instill culture of behavior and teach children self-control.

When a child is just learning to eat independently, they get dirty themselves and dirty all the space around them. For this event, parents prepare special clothes and put on an apron. But time passes, and skill in taking food contributes to the child eating more neatly and having a concept of cleanliness.

Each culture has its own traditions and etiquette regarding food intake, and it should be considered and instilled in one's children. Somewhere they eat with hands, somewhere with chopsticks, somewhere sitting on the floor, and we are accustomed to eating at the table with knife, spoon and fork. At the same time, we use napkins for wiping the mouth and set separate dishes for food waste and wrappers. Sometimes for dinner we turned off the lights and lit candles. But this was more exception than rule, and brought special joy and romance to our communication at the table.

A child likes to imitate their parents and willingly learns what they see in their behavior. Cleanliness also pleases children. Although they do not immediately and reluctantly master this science, time passes and they begin to see dirt themselves and know how to fight it.

We do not apply disciplinary sanctions in the area of nutrition. Our daughter is not taught that for bad behavior she will be deprived of something tasty or useful. Also, we do not offer delicacies as encouragement for some successes. Food in our house is not a special privilege that needs to be earned or that can be not received for violating order.

We also watch that the child does not overeat even healthy products. Although sometimes special treats appear at our table that quickly disappear, we watch that they are in moderation, and therefore try not to put abundance of everything in excess on the table, but put as much food as needed. If the child wants to get an additional portion of soup, this means they will eat less of other dishes.

But we do not monitor the taste and measure of our guests. In this case, we let them choose dishes and amount of food themselves.

Sometimes my wife asks our daughter what she would like to eat for lunch, and then prepares these dishes together with her. But basically menu composition lies in the mother's power, and she herself decides what and when other family members eat. And if the daughter demands something else, she is made to understand that her wishes will be considered next time, and now she needs to eat what is prepared.

Usually children very much like to eat dishes they prepared themselves. And when you explain at the table what benefit this or that product brings, they accept this with understanding and then tell guests what healthy dishes are on their table. When tasting various products, we try to explain how they combine and what is better to eat separately. While our daughter was small, this was not necessary, but when she began to understand more, we explained to her why something absolutely cannot be eaten and why some healthy products are incompatible with each other. And it must be said that our daughter very carefully watched how much we ourselves adhered to these rules and immediately raised a fuss when she saw that we were eating something incompatible.

From early childhood we taught our daughter that Coca-Cola is a bad drink, and she never even tried it, but considered it something bitter. But once our brethren invited us to a wedding. In the midst of the wedding celebration, our daughter ran up to us and informed us that it turns out Coca-Cola is so tasty. Other children let her try this. We then had to explain for a long time that not everything tasty is useful, and that besides sugar, other harmful substances are contained there. And this drink was never in our house.

Also, the process of learning nutrition culture included the concept of respect for other people, especially elders. We taught our daughter that when choosing products, one should always yield to others and wait until they take what they need, and then give one's plate. The exception was only the moment when she was allowed to take something first.

Polite words, thanking God for food, gratitude to those who prepared and served it—all this must be instilled in children from early years so they understand that food is not self-evident, but someone's care for you, for which one needs to be grateful, respecting people's labor.

But we did not put food and its taste on a pedestal, giving it special attention, making these products the main topic of our table conversations. We always had something to talk about in the friendly atmosphere of our home. And when we had birthdays, then we always prepared a special dish for this day that we did not eat on other days. And the Lord always received gratitude from us for everything we ate and drank.

1. Please read Rom. 14:17; 1 Sam. 2:12-17; Matt. 6:31-33; Prov. 4:1-2; 8:32-36; 20:7; 31:14-15,27-28; 1 Tim. 3:2-5,12; Ps. 127:1-5; 1 Cor. 14:20; Eph. 6:1-4 in light of this chapter.

2. What other verses came to your mind?

3. What did you understand from this chapter?

4. Should a child be instilled with good table manners?

5. Should one keep in mind that the family always gathers together at the table three times a day, and this should be special time for the family?

6. Does the fact that mother decides what, when and in what quantity to eat teach the child self-control?

7. What does the story of Eli's sons from 1 Sam. 2:12-17 teach us? What lesson can be extracted from reading 1 Sam. 4:11?

8. What will intemperance in food lead a child to, and what consequences await their parents?

9. What to do if everything in my family is not going as well as described in this lesson?

10. Should one watch that harmful food and drinks never appear on your table?

11. Why should food not be made into a cult or means for encouragement or punishment?

12. Do joint meals bring the family closer?

13. Why, when people get acquainted, do they spend much time at the table somewhere in a restaurant?

14. Should one sometimes bring romance into joint meals? If yes, what does this give?