As a blogger, I love getting the chance to review new books about kids and food. But sometimes I come across a book that’s so good, it’s actually a little painful to read — I find myself lamenting the fact that the book didn’t exist when my kids were younger, when it could have really helped me out. And that’s exactly how I felt when reading “Eat Your Vegetables” And Other Mistakes Parents Make: Redefining How to Raise Healthy Eaters.
In Eat Your Vegetables, author Natalie Digate Muth, MD, MPH, RD systematically examines twelve common mistakes parents make in feeding their children, from “Forbidding Potato Chips and Ice Cream” to “Using Food as a Reward” to “Catering to Picky Eaters.” Each chapter thoughtfully examines why parents often make the mistake, then offers detailed counterstrategies to help them reverse course. All chapters also contain developmental considerations based upon a child’s age, a concise summary to drill home key points, a bibliography for further reading and a handful of healthy recipes designed to support the specific goals of the chapter. And Muth doesn’t just focus on the feeding of children by parents, but also includes chapters on encouraging physical activity, dealing with “grandparent sabotage” and the tricky topic of discussing your child’s weight with your pediatrician.
As good as that description may sound, though, it doesn’t quite do justice to this book. Eat Your Vegetables is so full of resources and sound advice that even a reader who is not making one of the identified “mistakes” will still find much to learn and use here. Several times while reading the book, I would stop and ask myself, “Why haven’t I heard about this book in the media before? It’s so awesome!”
I only have one quibble with the book, which is that it doesn’t include an index so it’s hard to go back and find a favorite recipe or a particular reference. But that small criticism aside, I regard Eat Your Vegetables as an essential resource for all parents trying to instill healthy habits in their young children. If you have kids between infancy and age 10 or so, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
And now for the promised giveaway! To enter to win your own copy of Eat Your Vegetables, just leave a comment below by 6pm CST tomorrow (November 2nd). You can tell me why you’d like to win or you can just say hi. I’ll use a random number generator after the comment period closes to select one lucky winner and if you comment twice (e.g., to respond to another reader’s comment), I’ll use the number of your first comment to enter you in the drawing. I’ll email you directly if you win and announce the winner on TLT’s Facebook page, too.
Good luck!
[Blogger disclosure: As with most of my book reviews, I received a free copy of this book for my perusal but I never accept any other form of compensation for the book reviews you see on The Lunch Tray. I’m also mentioned in this particular book, but I had no communications with the author before it was published. ]
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