"There is no sincerer love than the love of food." - George Bernard Shaw

Thanks for sticking around through all of the Amelia based topics on this blog.  Today’s is no different.  Right now, Amelia is dominating the blog.  I don’t know whether to say “you’re welcome” or to apologize.  This particular entry is one that I have been thinking about a good bit over the course of Amelia’s life.

When you have a baby, you expect to be able to meet all of their needs with no trouble.  There is more than you could possibly want to read about breastfeeding versus formula feeding out there in the world.  So, I’m not going to rant about that, except to say that often, it is a much more complicated decision than it seems.  That decision started this train of thought.  The bottom line is that there is a significant difference between eating and eating well.

Amelia is in the process of learning to eat table food without the safety net of formula feedings throughout the day.  She is moving towards drinking milk instead and is learning to use a cup rather than her beloved bottle.  We’re not in a hurry, but it’s time.  Amelia is learning what she likes, what she doesn’t like and is mostly being a good sport about eating enough and eating variety. 

Earlier in her life, it was a different story.  She has always been healthy and never had nearly as much trouble as so many other babies out there face.  However, eating was not always comforting or easy for her.  It’s not my intent here to go into all of those details, but just to say that Amelia is learning how to eat well.  She’s learning to enjoy eating. 

Eating, while obviously a part of every person’s daily life, is a subject of incredible controversy.  We berate each other and ourselves over our decisions of how to feed our children.  We have few healthy, cheap options in our society and at the same time, we participate in “fat-shaming.”  On top of all of that, people are going hungry all over the world.   

I don’t have the answers.  I don’t know how to stop world hunger or how to fix childhood obesity or type 2 diabetes or even bullying; but I do know that I can teach Amelia how to enjoy eating.  I can teach her that her worth is not related to her weight.  I can teach her how to be healthy. I can do what I can to help eradicate hunger and in so doing, teach Amelia that if those who have more than enough would share a little, there would be enough for all.