05/04/2017
2.
Only Bread or noodles for Kal
Kalapapa or Kal as he is fondly called by his mum had always been selective in his meals even before he became two years old. After he was weaned from breast milk, he had developed an appetite for bread or noodles. His parents had always obliged his insistence on bread. There is hardly a day you don’t find bread in the fridge in the family house of The Harrisons. He would prefer eating bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner. His addiction for bread was so much that he could decide to eat nothing else if there was no bread and would even fall sick if you decided to deny him of his bread. For Kal, it was “give me this day my daily bread”. When he discovered as he grew older that statement during the Sunday school class prayer, Kal memorised the verse and will use it whenever he wanted to press home his demands.
He also had a relish for noodles once in a while. He would sometimes eat his bread with noodles or only noodles or only bread. His lunch pack for school must contain bread or noodles or else he would leave it untouched. Severally, his mother had tried to introduce other meals but this has not been successful. One would wonder what was in the bread or noodles that Kal was so wont to eating these. He prefers his noodles are cooked without breaking them as he loved the snaky motion the long strands made whenever he took them into his mouth. And for the bread, he loved to chew them without eggs or butter. He hardly sat down at a place to properly eat his bread but will pick a few slices and run outside to play only to return when he had finished them.
Kal is now four years old and his habits had stuck owing largely to his parents over indulgence. This has caused him a myriad of health consequences. Recently, he was diagnosed to have kwashiorkor. He is flabby, with dry and de-pigmented skin, dry sparse and brittle hair. He is also severely wasted from extreme weight loss and his abdomen protruded from liver enlargement.
As the doctor examined him, he shook his head inquiring about the nutritional history of the child. Kal’s mum had tried to excuse herself from the doctor’s accusation of overindulgence by claiming that she had tried her best to change his habits. The doctor however still maintained his stand explaining that a child begins to form habits at the age of three and continues till six years of age when his adult personality, moral, intellectual and emotional traits are about formed and that if parents failed to alter the child’s habits within that age range it would almost be impossible to do anything about them later. He was emphatic that in the process of changing those habits, a child might whimper, refuse or resist but the parents should remain firm if they would eventually help the child. He however assured them that it was not too late as Kal was only four years of age and that an adjustment was still possible more especially as Kal’s health had been affected by his behaviour already.
That day, Kal’s mum decided to act on the instructions of the doctor. She decided to flog Kal whenever he refused to eat the foods given to him and tried to force the food into his mouth. This was very unpleasant to Kal who was always crying over his meals and would end up not eating them. Mrs Harrison out of frustration reverted to giving him bread and noodles again. She was obviously not winning and she needed to change her style.
One day, as Mrs Harrison sat in the sitting room watching the TV with Kal, she noticed that Kal’s eyes were glued to the TV set and he seemed to be interested in what was being displayed. She then decided to exploit his passion positively. She started by buying some video films where children were eating noodles and other nutritious meals. She would play the films over and over again and Kal would sit down to watch those films with rapt attention. The video films also featured the children talking about the foods they love most and why they love those foods. Next, she got him audio-visuals of the various vitamins, the foods containing them and their functions in the human body. Kal got so amused with these audio-visuals and would usually be heard mimicking the characters he saw singing ‘Vitamin A for Bright eyes, Vitamin D for strong bones and teeth…’.
Mrs Harrison also started introducing the various meals in little portions especially as Kal watched the children eat those particular foods in the video films. She also made the foods tasty whenever she cooked. Whenever Kal finished the portion of food given to him, she would clap for him. She also would gradually increase the portions given to him. Mrs Harrison also made eating a competition. She pleaded with her neighbours whose children were age mates with Kal to always release them to come with their food when it was meal time. She would set her stop watch and watch them eat their food, congratulating whoever it was that first finished his or her meal. Kal who was in the habit of eating his meals slowly and reluctantly soon picked up and also occasionally would win the competition.
Habit they say takes between twenty one and forty days to form. In a few weeks, Kal’s mum had successful altered Kal’s habit of eating only bread and noodles and he now loved to eat many other nutritious meals. Kal also recovered from his illness and everyone was happy again.
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Children, you need a balanced diet to grow well. Your foods must contain in adequate proportions a mixture of Carbohydrates, Proteins, Fats and oils, Vitamins, and water. You should also endeavour to chew your meals properly and drink enough water daily. You need to avoid the habit of eating only a particular kind of food while neglecting others thus causing a nutritional imbalance for you.
Parents should strategize taking a cue from Mrs Harrison to help their children love the meals they eat and help their children who are selective like Kal. The Parents must always insist on knowing from their health care givers the nature of the illnesses of their children and what to do to prevent them in the future. Health workers should not be in a hurry to treat but must take time to discover social and nutritional factors contributing to illnesses, offering appropriate and adequate health information and education where necessary.
