Dr. Indira Mallya

Last time we covered Part II of our ongoing series titled “Healthy foods and proactive Moms” which illustrated the need to develop a clutch of micro lists to serve as reference material of her child’s food needs and preferences, among other things. Part III herein, will suggest proactive strategies for a mother in offering healthy foods to her child.

Strategies for Mom

• Hold a family meeting and collectively decide that each member will never say no to tasting new or healthy foods, especially after knowing their health benefits.
• Hold a one on one meeting with your child. Discuss the health benefits of the healthy food disliked by the child. Also, Discuss the need and type of her involvement in preparing a creative, attractive, and tasty dish.
• Impress upon the child that he will first taste the said dish and gradually learn to eat it from the plate. Invite a few of her child’s friends to a meal, in which the said dish is served and hopefully enjoyed by everyone.
• Use your creativity to introduce the healthy food in different ways and forms. Try different permutations and combinations with other foods too. As soon as your child likes any dish from this endeavor, write down its recipe in a book kept for that purpose. Prepare this dish often.
• Hold children’s group competitions on preparing healthy foods in your neighborhoods. This will encourage children to eat healthy foods.
• Likewise, encourage your child to play games, have debates and any other activity covering healthy foods. Read stories on importance of health and nutrition for children.Use any other strategy you may know that works for you and your child.

And do not forget to spend quality time with your child and sometimes make conversation on importance of Health, Nutrition and Healthy Foods. Give the pros and cons of not eating a balanced diet.

Today’s article deals with Part II of our ongoing series titled “Healthy foods and proactive Moms”. Last time we looked at the philosophy and attitude needed by mothers, to be proactive in introducing healthy foods to children.
The present article shows a mother how to build reference material in this endeavor by preparing a clutch of micro lists, using a Primary list. These micro lists have behaviors centering on children’s preferences in foods.

Primary checklist for Mom

• List foods disliked by your child but are necessary for them.
• List foods disliked by various family members but are important for your child’s health.
• List foods and dishes enjoyed by your child.
• List different ways of involving your child in the process of preparing healthy foods/dishes/recipes at his/her level.
• List healthy foods that should be a part of your child’s diet in consultation with an expert.
• Any other type of micro list/lists you may want to prepare.

Remember

• It helps if you file the micro lists and keep them in a place which is easy to reach, as and when required.
• These lists will help you to plan the level, type and time span of your child’s involvement when you prepare healthy foods. Being a party to the preparation of the dish, your child should be willing at least to taste/eat the same..
• Finally the lists will help you to select permutations and combinations from all the micro lists of foods.

Note: Next article will carry Part III of the present series on healthy foods and proactive Moms.

Happy listings to you!
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The present article is the first one in our series on “ Proactive Moms” who can make quality shifts in her parenting skills. She empowers herself to control a situation or an issue before it escalates into a problem behavior in her child/children.
Today, our focus is on healthy foods that are provided by proactive Moms. The article is divided in three parts, and Part I is presented herein.
Children develop likes or dislikes of foods through their sight and, taste and feel in the mouth. Before a mother starts the process of introducing healthy foods, she has to look inward and ask herself some questions which help her gauge the philosophy and attitude needed to be proactive in this situation.
The checklist that follows does is not given in any order:

Self check for Mom

• Will you ask yourself the reason why you really want to introduce the new/healthy food to your child?
• Will you promise yourself to invest time and effort in approaching/tackling the said situation of providing healthy foods to your child?
• Will you be prepared to take some action if an adult in your family shows aversion to some foods in front of your child?
• Are you prepared to invest time and energy in preparing creative dishes for the child?
• Do you keep your child’s preferences in mind, while shopping for foods?
• Are you prepared to read upon different options and substitutes in elements of food groups as and when necessary because they are beneficial to your child?
• Are you open to occasionally involve your child in different processes (at his/her level) of preparing a recipe with a healthy food item?
• Will you first ask your child’s pediatrician and the nutritionist to test the child for nutritional requirements and suggest a proper diet? We urge you to try this.

Summing up
There are many facets to the issue of introducing new/healthy foods to young children.
First, the mother has to examine her philosophy and attitude before encouraging her child to eat a balanced meal. In other words, she needs to use appropriate proactive behaviors e.g. She should introduce a healthy food only to complete a balanced diet for her child and, not because it is new in the market!
She also has to meet the family members and encourage everyone on a regular basis to eat a balanced diet and welcome new foods because they are healthy.
It would help a lot, if a mother takes her child to the market to soak in the vibrant colors of vegetables and fruits or pulses and legumes. This will develop happy associations with foods in general.
In other words, the child and the family members should develop a positive attitude to foods as they promote health and wellness.
Next time, we will deal with Part II of this topic.

Happy shopping for Foods!

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Sibling rivalry is always expressed in negative emotions and behaviors such as jealousy, competition, fighting and bickering between siblings. However, you can control the situation before it escalates into a problem behavior in your child by making quality shift in parenting skills. These tips will help you keep peace among siblings.

Step I: Prepare the older child
About a month or two, before the new baby is born, you need to prepare the older child by:

• Talking of the new arrival as a family member.
• Pointing out that the new baby will need attention, care, and love especially by being dependent and helpless. Also, point out how the older child was brought home the same way.
• Telling the older child that he has an important role in making the baby feel at home.

Step II: Have the older child visit the hospital
Have the older child visit the new baby in the hospital for:

• Meeting the new baby.
• Finding out how dependent and helpless but lovely the baby is.
• Getting used to the idea that very soon the baby will come home.

Step III: Involve the older child in activities
It is important to impress on your older child that you love both the children. It is also important to involve him in some activity with the new baby so that he does not feel left out. You can:

• Tell your older child stories about babies who were helped by their responsible older brother and sister.
• Set some do’s and don’ts for the older child when interacting with the baby, with explanation and reasons for the same. This will help him understand the helping role better.
• Your older child can play with the baby with soft toys and rattles, can sing a lullaby, make colorful hanging mobiles, show finger plays or tell small stories with facial expressions and hand movements. He will be rewarded with the smiles, squeals, and gurgles from the baby and thus a special bond will be established between them.

But you know your children the best, therefore you should think of ways and means to promote positive interactions between your younger and older child. Just ensure the baby’s safety.

Hello Moms!
If you are looking to hone your skills as a caring mom, look no further.
Here are three behaviors which are simple yet powerful enough to help you make a “quality” shift in bringing up your children.
The behaviors are:

Being Proactive
We know that being proactive means to create or control a situation rather than just respond to it after it has happened. This approach allows us to stop issues from becoming “problems”, among other things.
Some situations calling for proactive behaviors from moms are:
*Addressing sibling rivalry.
*Setting screen time limits.
*Introducing new or healthy foods.

Hints
When you are being proactive it is important to keep in mind the following:

• Begin your intervention gradually, before a “situation” starts, gets out of hand or turns into a “problem” behavior in your child.
• Be consistent in your expectations and disciplining.
• Be firm when necessary, especially as children are prone to pleading with soulful eyes!
• Involve your child in the decision making process as and when required because he/she gets a chance to make joint decisions with you and thereby has to abide by them. Do remember to carry this out at your child’s level.

Providing quality time
We need to set aside some quality time for children. It should be daily, no matter how busy we are. The time span is not important as much as utilizing it fruitfully for your child. If you have two children, do give them individual quality time.
Outcomes
The quality time provides a lot of benefits such as:

• You build a strong bond with your child due to a shared experience without any distraction or interference from any source.
• Your child feels free to talk or engage in an activity of his/her choice (or decided together), with you.
• Your child develops a feeling of well being and happiness as he/she basks in your love and attention!

Building trust
In your daily interactions, you may often face situations when you cannot answer your child’s questions or you evade telling him/her the truth e.g. when you leave home without your child.
When you do not know the answer to your child’s question, it is alright to say “I don’t know. I will try to find an answer as soon as I can”. After the assurance, it is important to get back to your child (at the earliest), with or without the answer, and tell the truth accordingly.

Benefits
The most important benefits are as follows:

• Your child will always approach you for answers because he/she knows you will not disappoint them with made up answers.
• Your child will always approach you due to your truthfulness and his/her trust in you.
• Most of all, your child will learn from you that it is all right to say “I don’t know” instead of prevaricating.

So, go ahead Moms use these three “quality” behaviors to enhance your child rearing skills.

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Hello Moms,
This is the fourth and last article in our series titled “You are our Hero”, for older children. Please download the article and share with your older kids as well as those from your neighborhood.
It has some guidelines for the children, on project planning and implementation of outreach.

Hi Girls and Boys,
This is the fourth and last article in our series. It is Part II of the last article on “Outreach by our Hero”. It offers some ideas for more outreach projects and guidelines for conduct of the project planning and implementation.

More project ideas

• Hold workshops for making soft toys to be distributed to children in need. E.g. Children need some play toys when they are hospitalized. Think of other places for distribution.
• Have workshops on book binding or other such ventures, for deserving candidates, whose families need to augment their income at home. Help them initially to get orders from shops, and so on. Take help of resource people whenever you need them.
• Hold demonstrations and talks on healthy eating habits in collaboration with colleges and NGOs dealing with that subject.
• Inaugurate a book club for older children, at a place of your choice. Enroll members. Discuss how you want to set it up. Members then spend time in the club discussing the book they have read. Let a resource person guide the discussions in small groups.

Suggested Guidelines on Project planning

• Have all the necessary permissions before you begin the project. Don’t forget to take permission from your parents.
• Identify like minded children to work with you.
• Identify parents and teachers who believe in your projects and want to see you through it. They should provide help, supervision and monitoring of your project.
• Hold regular discussions at convenient timings, to discuss about resources such as money, donations in kind, etc, and the different steps you must follow for your project.
• Someone should keep attendance, work done, and work to be done.
• In the beginning let the adults take the lead. You can be a trainee for sometime.
• Make a project plan with resource requirement and addresses where you can find them.
• Plan dates in advance for all kinds of working plans.
• Use leaflets for distribution after each workshop is completed. Knowledge is always a motivator to put suggestions into action.
• Use photos to demonstrate actual reality of a subject matter.
• After you plan the project, identify resource persons to conduct talks and conduct workshops.
• Let the Local/school authorities and NGOs take the lead in getting bulk resources and reaching products to deserving candidates after a workshop produces items such as soft toys or paper bags. But you should monitor if the consignment has reached the beneficiaries or not.
• When the project is over, send thank you notes to people who have helped in the completion of your project.
• At completion of project, take a call if you want to extend or close it.
• Make a project review report at the end and discuss with interested parties.

Make your own guidelines as you gain experience of working on projects.
Don’t give up no matter how long it takes. Be clear about your goals and jog along with persistence. If you take everyone along, the group members will all be motivated about the project implementation.

All the best Heroes

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