Understanding Eating Competency in Children
As parents, we all want what’s best for the children in our lives, especially when it comes to something as vital as eating. But how do we know if our child's eating habits are healthy and on track? This question becomes especially important when faced with picky eaters or children who struggle with mealtime.
In this four part-blog series, we'll dive into the world of picky eating, problem eating, and what normal eating behavior looks like for children—from babies to age five. Today let’s explore the concept of eating competency—a crucial concept for helping children develop healthy, balanced relationships with food.
What Is Eating Competency?
The idea of eating competency, developed by renowned dietitian Ellen Satter, is essential when thinking about how children interact with food. Eating competency isn’t just about what a child eats but how they approach food, mealtimes, and their body’s hunger and fullness cues.
According to Satter, eating competency is defined as being positive, comfortable, and flexible with eating. It involves getting enough enjoyable and nourishing food. Essentially, an eating competent person can go anywhere, find enough food to eat, and grow consistently and adequately. This is something we all want for our children, but it takes a bit of work and understanding to nurture this skill in them.
Key Signs of Eating Competency in Children
As parents, it’s important to ask yourself: Does my child…
…feel good about eating and food?
…like the new food and do you have an interest in trying new food?
…trust themselves to eat enough food?
…take the time to eat?
The Importance of Eating Competency for Kids
Eating competence is really important with helping individuals have positive attitudes and behaviors towards food. It allows your child to grow consistently and provide them the confidence and comfort level to find enough food to eat in any circumstance.
These skills are important for children to be open to trying new foods. Why does eating competency matter so much for children? It’s because it helps promote healthy growth and development.
With these skills in place you have a much higher likelihood of a more nutritionally complete diet. When one or more of these are missing what we do in the therapy room is we work to address what one of those skills is missing.
Even though eating competency doesn’t specify what or how much a child should eat, it encourages them to eat as much as they want of the foods they enjoy and are typically healthier overall.
Cultivating Eating Competency in Your Child
As we continue this blog series on picky and problem eating, we’ll explore more strategies for promoting healthy eating patterns and identifying the normal behaviors as well as potential eating concerns in young children. By promoting a positive, comfortable, and flexible approach to eating, we give children the foundation they need to grow into healthy, confident, and capable eaters. There will be tips/tricks to come as we explore this topic over the next several weeks.
Stay tuned for the next post, where we’ll dive deeper into the signs of developmental cues from baby to 5 years old.
