Double Your Child's Appetite

One of the hardest problems our mothers face in their daily life with their children is the problem of the child's eating. How often have I heard a mother declare to a friend of hers that mealtime is the hardest time of the day! In our country the mother does not breathe freely until the meal is over, and it is usually accomplished only with great effort on the mother's part. How many times have some mothers' nerves flared up at their children for refusing to eat with the appetite the mother desires?! And how many times has a mother lost all patience and gone so far as to strike the child and force him to eat — and the child sat there, between sobs and tears, eating against his will!!

These are scenes we have known and pass through every day, so much so that many of us are unable to solve the problem in an effective psychological way... "The Woman's Voice" has thought to surround this subject with scientific study and to offer a few suggestions, in the hope that they may be of use to those of our mothers whom the matter concerns...

Educators hold that one of the most important ways of interesting the child where food is concerned is to let him share in the cooking with his mother.

This does not mean his taking part in stuffing the mahshi, or in lahm bi-ajin, and other such complicated dishes!! Yet even in these two dishes there is wide room for the child to feel that he has a hand in the cooking, and this feeling guarantees a full meal which the child eats with wonderful appetite, of his own accord.

It is enough to give our child the notion that we need his help, and he enters the kitchen with his apron tied at the waist. We must make certain that the knife he holds is of the kind that does not cut well, that he is kept far from the danger of the fire... and that he is always under our supervision. In mahshi, for example, we can let him finish the job by cutting the caps off the squash or the eggplant, or by lifting them from the water one by one and placing them in the "pot" after they are stuffed, ready for cooking... And in lahm bi-ajin a child of five can lift the rounds of dough — indeed, often enough he can even fill them, imitating his mother with wonderful skill!

Boys' desire to cook is in no way less than girls'; and it is a fine thing to endear this craft to boys, so that there grows in them an inclination to distinguish between tasty cooking and untasty, and to know how it is made...

I know children who would not eat eggs "barisht" (soft-boiled) until their mother invited them to make the eggs themselves. They stood on a chair raised off the floor to watch the egg drop into the boiling water... they put the egg in with their own hands and began counting: one... two... three... When the operation was done and they had eaten the egg, their mother was astonished to see them clamoring for a second one! And they came to wait eagerly for breakfast time to arrive...

What most delights the child, and tempts him to work and consequently to eat, is the making of sweets and cakes! Here the child finds wide room to help, and we see him working quickly and eagerly — though his rest periods are frequent, for he tires quickly, being unaccustomed to it... A boy of four can measure out the flour, pick the walnuts and almonds clean of their shells, and measure the sugar...

And a girl of four loves to beat the eggs, or to grease the pan with butter; and children past six years and above can carry out the greater part of the cake — under their mother's supervision, of course!! A dish or a cake made by their own hands becomes, without doubt, better and more delicious than any other, and they eat it with surpassing appetite...

And shortly before mealtime, invite your child to help you set the table: "This is your plate, this is Mama's plate, and this is for Papa... the fork here on the left and the knife on the right... don't forget the dish of olives..." And would he care to taste the salad, to make sure its salt and its sourness are in balance?!

These are remarks we repeat within the child's hearing while carrying them out; and if the task proves too hard for him, arranging the chairs before the plates is an easy and delightful matter...

So come, from this moment on, and put this simple practical theory into effect — if you are one of those mothers who complain of this matter and find it hard to feed their children!..