Being a parent, is balanced nutrition for your children your top priority? Do you know most of us undermine term Nutrition? Only to realize later that, Nutrition not just means balanced food but also a set of activities that help develop a healthy personality.
For instance, I would love if my child can eat variety of foods or intake more quantity. Yet my efforts will be futile if (s)he doesn’t like to touch the food, hates the odor and flavor or gets overwhelmed by how it looks, by noisy environment, or if (s)he cannot physically sit to eat. And I ask why? This has nothing to do with the digestive system. Well it does. Seemingly simple functions like “Eating” is much more correlated to other senses than you can imagine. Our senses send signals to our brain, and that’s where all signals are collectively interpreted. Brain can act differently with every collection of positive and negative signals.
Step into your child’s shoes. For her/him any change from routine is a challenge, physical and mental. Her/his senses start creating aversions, a negative signal to brain. These aversions left unattended create a habit and rest into her character. It is hence important to tend to these aversions at an early stage.
A sensory diet is a balanced set of activities encouraged to strengthen her/his seven senses, to proactively prevent stress elements and to give her tools to succeed and emerge as a distinct personality. These activities can be as simple as animal walks or blowing bubbles or as challenging as gliding or push-ups/curl ups, all presented as structured play activities. They can be personalized and self paced. They are easy, age appropriate and most of them can be done using household items. They are a great way of spending time together and making memories. Think about what is the most precious family moment you remember of your childhood…was it watching TV? Fact is, your kid might not remember ten minutes of watching a movie together but (s)he will remember the ten minutes you had spent doing such activities. And knowing that activities are building up confidence and character gives immense pleasure and motivation to parents. Here are some sense based do-able activities
- For Visual System (Vision): Mazes; I spy games; looking at photos/picture books/nature
- For Olfactory System (Smell): Blindfold smelling games including foods at various temperatures and textures
- For Gustatory System (Taste): Blowing bubbles with straw of various thicknesses; taste and tell games
- For Somatosensory System (Touch): Finger painting; Shaving foam games; Sandbox
- For Auditory System (Sound): Listening to sounds of nature; making music; whispering; experiencing quietness
- For Vestibular System (Balance): Tug of war; swing; spinning; sledging
- For Proprioception System (Sense of body position in space): Play hot potato with heavy balls; hanging from monkey bars; human bumper cars game
No problem exists without a solution. Stop complaining about your child not eating, find the underlying cause. Be wise, Order your Sensory combo today.
- Neelu Soni
- March 30, 2016
- 0 Comment
