Don't let the title of this book mislead you into thinking that it's for tackling child obesity related issues. While it's one of the topics covered, the book is mostly about molding parent's attitude towards eating habits of their offspring.

Food is not one of Atul's favorite subject. He eats well when he is hungry, but there is no guarantee that he would eat every single meal and snack, every single day. There have been days when he had polished his lunch and then there have been days when the very same menu came back untouched. When we raised it as a concern to Atul's pediatrician, she advised that toddlers need just one and a half full meal per day to help them stay healthy and aid their growth. We were told, as long as it averages out, he is in a good place. 

Later, when I was discussing this with a friend, she recommended this book to me and I am so glad I took her advise and checked it out. The underlying theme of the book is the clear division of responsibility between parents and kids when it comes to eating. Parents are responsible for what is presented to eat and the manner in which it is presented. Children are responsible for how much and even whether they eat. 

The book helped us look at Atul's eating habits in a whole new perspective. While we never took to force feeding him, we certainly thought it was our responsibility to monitor how well and how much he ate. We are slowly learning to unlearn this attitude and trust Atul to regulate the quantity of his food intake. We have some simple rules that he is expected to abide by during meal time. No watching TV or reading books while eating. No moving around during meal time. Eat while you eat, play while you play. The only snacks that will be served at home during week days will be fruits. However, he gets to choose anything for his snack time during the weekend, no questions asked. He is required to do three things after meal time - put his plate in the sink, clean himself up, drink some water.

We see a big improvement in Atul's eating behavior after following some of the simple things outlined in the book. But more importantly, the battle of wills at meal time has definitely come down over the past couple of months. 

I share a matter-of-fact relationship with cooking.  Eating out on a frequent basis is neither healthy nor economical, which is what motivates me to feed homemade food for my family for the most part.  I do like trying new recipes, but I have an issue when the recipe calls for my undivided attention (eg. kaju barfis) or requires infinite patience (eg. rava dosai). My cooking philosophy is in sharp contrast with that of the more orthodox members of my clan, who consider the kitchen as sacrosanct or that of my grandmas and mom, who made everything, literally everything, vadam, podi, ooruga and bakshnam, from the scratch.

As a child, I have wondered, why, why are they putting themselves through this ordeal? It's only food, the taste lasts for no more than a few minutes and it gets digested in a couple of hours, so why spend hours toiling in the kitchen? It's not like those who consume,  volunteer to take over next time or at the very minimum, are magnanimous with their compliments?

But it started making sense last week, partly prompted by my efforts to make ribbon pakoda and partly inspired by a beautiful post from a fellow blogger. As I was making ribbon pakoda for a dear pregnant friend, I caught myself with the following monologue, "I hope the milaga podi does not give her a heartburn", "I wish I knew which shade of brown she likes her pakoda to be", "I should make another installment in the evening", so on and so forth. Just then I was conscious of the fact that, what I was making for my friend was more than savoury; it was a way of showing I cared. Connecting these dots backwards, I began to realize that that's how my grandmoms showered their affection on us; by making food tailor-made to please our varying taste buds without any expectation in return and by fondly thinking about us while making the delicacies. Sure, food can be an expression of love!