An evening visitor!

 The sun had set yesterday and what was left was just the twilight. 

When I looked out into our garden, I saw a movement in the guava tree. It was a Barbet feeding on the fruit. During the five minutes till it flew away, what I noticed was feeding without dropping any piece of guava from its bills. It took just enough bite between its bills and stretched its neck upward to swallow and rested for a few seconds before taking another bite. It worked on the rim of the fruit first and moved inward. What an intelligent approach!

I have some parents who confess that they have to resort to showing cartoon to make a child eat food. This happens mostly with toddlers and pre-schoolers. Most parents forget that the children refuse to eat as a bargain till they can view the cartoon. 

What if we show photos of how animals, birds, or even other other children eat before they start on the meal. 

A meal is an interactive time between the parents and the child. A child has to have experience of seeing the food, smelling the aroma, tasting it and chewing as a necessity to experience satiety! The is possible only by talking about food, and making story of how the cooked food item was grown in the field and now made ready to eat. A mother told me that ever since she began showing the rice field, harvesting the grain, raw rice, washing it and cooking it, before the meal started, the child was ready to hear about stories connected with cultivating the rice in the field. Her son by three years knew the difference between white rice and parboiled rice. 

A meal time is a time spent in conversation and bonding. It is a way one creates an ambience of endearing conversation. 

A parent tired and in a hurry to do the next chore, unfortunately might consider feeding the child as time consuming and effortful. That is why many resort to using the screen to engage a child and a child made to eat unaware of what he or she eats. 

The Barbet had a message for me. It was not just gulping the food in a hurry. It paused and planned for its each mouthful. 

When the Barbet flew away, I felt that its evening meal was a time of great pleasure from its body language. 

Whether it is a family meal time or a separate feeding time of a toddler, let me suggest that conversations and stories that connect children to the context ought to be the focus. All adult conversations can be held later. A family meal time is time to have inclusive conversations in which children can participate. 

I stay wondering at the learning lessons which birds bring each day!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)