The effect of teacher behaviors and food serving arrangements on young children's eating in a day care center

Abstract

Educators advocate that a sound nutritonal program for preschool children should focus not only on the kinds of food children eat, but also on the interrelationship of the psychological and sociological aspects that affect children's eating behaviors during mealtime. The lifetime eating habits of people may be influenced primarily from factors acquired during the development of eating habits in early childhood. A study by Eppright, Fox, Fryer, Lamkin, and Vivian (1969) has indicated that by the age of 3 years many children have developed a dislike for certain foods or types of foods, notably vegetables. Teachers in preschool settings and parents may overestimate the amounts of food needed by preschool children and encourage overeating at this early age. Also persons working with young children need to be aware of the possible psychological effects of negative ways of dealing with children when they are reluctant to eat. Eating habits of infants and preschool children were found to be highly individualistic in another study by Eppright, Fox, Fryer, Lamkin, and Vivian (1970). Teachers' awareness that mealtime can be blended into the total