Many parents hide food in order to get their children to eat what they think is healthy. There are even several cook books that will assist you in these efforts. What does hiding food accomplish? On the positive side it allows parents to feel better about the healthy foods their child unknowingly eats. All other consequences are negative.
First, a parent that needs to hide certain foods has already stopped being an effective parent. Parenting is teaching; hiding is deceiving. There is no parenting expert that encourages parents to deceive a child.
A mindful parent models best behavior. A parent should not be afraid of a child or of making an unpopular decision. Parenting is not a popularity contest. Hiding food keeps the child happy but is modeling dishonesty and giving inappropriate power to the child.
How long do you think you can fool your child? By the time a child is in grade school, if not before, they are pretty savvy about what is going on in their environment. They will eventually find out that you have been hiding food and they may rightly feel like they have been lied to.
What are you going to say when they ask, “Mom, is there squash in this brownie?” Perhaps later in their teenage years they will think that lies for someone’s “own good” are ok, or that deceiving their parents a little is not really lying.
Developing trust between parent and child is essential for a long term relationship; don’t blow it over a teaspoon of peas.
To learn more from Beverly check out her website http://www.creatinghealthyeaters.com/
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Beverly, thank you so much for sharing your perspective. I never thought about it that way – but what you say really makes sense. I’m pretty lucky – most of my kids love veggies. But the next time I try to sneak some pureed cauliflower into the alfredo sauce I’ll think about what you said