Hungry or Bored?

Children sometimes use food for reasons other than hunger to satisfy themselves.  These reasons may be in response to their emotions or feelings.  Many things can trigger hunger such as:

• boredom
• depression
• stress
• frustration
• insecurity
• loneliness
• fatigue

One way to keep your child from eating out of boredom is to steer them towards activities that keep them busy.  Also make sure your child eats three well-balanced meals and one snack each day.

A few things to do instead of eating would be:

• walk the dog
• walk around the neighborhood
• kicking a ball around
• painting a picture
• running through sprinklers