How Many Parents Explain the Food to their Children?

Ways to encourage healthy eating

- Maneka Sanjay Gandhi

My granddaughter, Anasuyaa 5, is a vegetarian and a very healthy eater. She loves vegetables, especially broccoli. She doesn’t like maida in any form, including cakes. She likes the idea of ice cream but will rarely go beyond a few licks. My son went through a phase of offering her lollipops, which she took to please him but never ate. Her idea of a great meal is lots of salad, two rotis, a little rice, dal, mushrooms, and vegetables. She was once given an egg by a friend’s mother, which she ate. She told me and I was very angry. When I took the matter up, the only defense that the person came up with was “Anasuyaa is very thin and she needs protein” and then she followed it up with a standard accusation, “How can you force your child to be vegetarian. She should be allowed to eat what she wants. What you are doing is not democratic and it's bad for the child. ” This is the most annoying argument of all and is pushed by the feebleminded. So, vegetarians and vegans should be ASHAMED for making their children eat so, while the others, no doubt, offer their infants an a la carte menu at each mealtime? Parents force their choices on you the day you come to the world, starting with the name and religion. Every parent forces their children to eat in a particular direction. But the parents, who force their child to eat meat at a young age, are doing much more damage because they start early in ruining the child’s health and laying the foundation for obesity and organ breakdowns. They also take away the natural sensitivity the child is born with towards the rest of creation.

ANASUYAA IS THE GENTLEST SOUL I HAVE EVER MET: SHE PICKS UP SNAILS FROM THE PATHWAYS AND CARRIES THEM TO ONE SIDE TO SEE THAT THEY ARE NOT RUN OVER. WE HAVE NOT TAUGHT HER THAT.