Feeding with Love and Good Sense: 12 through 18 years

Having worked your way through the earlier booklets in the series, you may already be applying the division of responsibility in feeding and having family meals. If all has gone well for you, you have raised a child who is well on his way to being a competent eater: who enjoys eating, joins in happily with family meals, takes an interest in unfamiliar food, and grows in the way that is right for him. On the other hand, this may be the first time you have learned about the division of responsibility, and the description of the competent eater may seem an impossible dream. You can only do your best. This booklet helps you master a kinder, gentler way of feeding that lets you feel good about doing your jobs with feeding and will not intrude on your child’s business of what and how much to eat. This is the fourth in the five-part series, Eating and Feeding with Love and Good Sense.

Feeding with Love and Good Sense: 12 through 18 years is appropriate for medical and educational settings, health care, public health, mental health, and public service.

• 6th grade reading level.

• 40 pages, 7.5 by 11 inches.

• Full color, photos 

1. Where you are going with feeding Following the division of responsibility in feeding will help you raise your child to be a competent eater: to enjoy food, take an interest in unfamiliar food, eat as much as he needs, and value family meals.
2. The best way to feed your child You are responsible for what, when, and where to feed your child, and for gradually teaching her to do the what, when, and where for herself. She is responsible for how much and whether to eat of the foods you put before her.
3. Understanding your adolescent Give your child both your leadership and his autonomy. Your adolescent loves you, wants to please you, and wants family. At the same time, he wants to please himself, be with his friends, and be independent. It is up to him, with your support, to find a balance.
4. How to feed your adolescent Have family meals and maintain a division of responsibility in feeding. Be firm about structure, but expect your out-and-about child to increasingly take on your what, when, and where jobs by feeding herself reliably and well. Expect her to eat lunch and to manage her schedule and her snacking so she can show up for dinner on time and hungry.
5. What to feed your adolescent You do a good job with feeding by maintaining structure and following the division of responsibility. Once you have mastered the how of feeding, these food-management strategies can be helpful. On the other hand, they can be harmful if they feel like too many rules and take the pleasure out of eating.
6. Solve feeding problems Consider the overweight teenager, the one who wants to diet, the one who won’t come to family dinners, the picky eater, the breakfast-skipper, and the one who may be developing an eating disorder. The solution to all is following the division of responsibility in feeding.
7. What you have learned Provide, don’t deprive, then love your child whatever his size and shape. Feel good about the child you have, not the one you thought you might have. Feel good about yourself, as well, and let your child show you what healthy and normal eating is all about. won’t eat