4 Things You Should Never Say to Your Toddler About Food

During the toddler years, children ingrain many of the behaviors that they will retain for life. It is between one and three years that your child will develop habits that stick with him through the preschool years and beyond-- possibly even into adulthood. This is why it's critically important to teach healthy eating habits when your child is still a toddler. Here are a few things you should never, ever say to a toddler about food.

1. "Clean your plate."

The healthiest eating habit you can teach your toddler is to eat when he's hungry and stop when he's full. Regardless of whether you think your toddler should be hungry, or whether you've paid good money for the organic toddler-meal you've put in front of him, he needs to know that it's okay to stop eating when he feels full. Instill healthy habits by allowing him to be done as soon as he feels done.

2. "You have to eat this."

Force-feeding is an extremely dangerous and unhealthy practice. Your toddler has only recently discovered his bodily autonomy and preserves that by making his own decisions about what he eats. Force-feeding a toddler will never help him to gain weight or nutrition; it will only make him resent you and despise eating. If your toddler is so underweight that you consider force-feeding necessary, his physician needs to be the one to make that decision.

3. "Don't play with your food."

The toddler years are far too early to worry about table manners or messiness. For a toddler, there is no distinction between "play" and "necessity," so playing with food comes naturally. If you stop your toddler every time he tries to stick his food, line it up, or feel its textures with his fingers, he may no longer enjoy the process of eating. It will feel like a chore rather than a pleasure. If he's still playing with food in a couple of years, that will be the time to ask him to practice table manners.

4. "Would some ice cream make you feel better?"

I've seen many parents resort to this tactic for cranky toddlers. The child gets anxious or upset about something, and the parents' first reaction is to offer a cookie, an ice cream cone, or a piece of candy to make it all better. This may seem like a great quick-fix solution, but it sets up a very unhealthy pattern, since it leads toddlers to associate fatty, sugary foods with comfort. In a nation plagued by obesity and emotional overeating, we can't safely teach our kids to view junk food as an instant fix for the blues.