How to Get Your Kid to Eat but Not Too Much by Ellyn Satter (1987, Paperback)

Ellen Satyr is THE authority in the Occupational Therapy world on the topics of childhood obesity and childhood eating disorders.

In "How To Get Your Child To Eat: But Not Too Much", she delivers needed help for parents and those working with children who have "issues" with food.

The main premise of the book is that Parents and Children need to have a clear "division of responsibility" in the area of feeding. The parent's responsibility is to purchase, prepare, and provide healthy food options for the child. The child's responsibility is to eat...or not.

Satter's premise is that when parents take over a child's responsibility by forcing them to eat or by "pressing" the food issues, the child becomes even less likely to make wise food choices.

One issue I have with the book is that it may be overly simplistic for the child who has severely disordered eating. In my case, our child (age 5) only eats 4 foods. This behavior stems from medical and sensory issues and is also behavioral. I found a case study in this book about a child similar to my son. I was encouraged as she began to outline what she had that family do. Then my hopes crashed when she said the child had moved before she could finish treatment.

Come on! At least tell me what you *would* have done next.

I do believe this is helpful & practical resource for parents with children who battle with them at meal time and for parents with children who are obese. It is also a good preventative resource for childhood obesity.