How anxious must our ancestors have felt at the dining table while raising children? The Donguibogam viewed a child as having a pure yang constitution. While energetic and active, they are also said to have spleen-stomach deficiency and weakness. Here, the spleen and stomach go beyond simple digestive organs; they act like a factory in the body that absorbs nutrients and generates vitality.
Children are growing and producing new cells every single moment, and all this energy is supplied directly through food. Only when the spleen and stomach are strong can this factory run smoothly to properly digest food, absorb necessary nutrients, and send them throughout the body, just as a tree rooted deeply in the earth grows strong. However, when a child has spleen-stomach deficiency, much like a tree with weak roots, they cannot properly draw in nourishment, and may even perceive and reject perfectly fine food as if it were a toxin.
Picky eating may not be simply fussy taste, but rather a bodily signal arising from weakened spleen and stomach function. It is a distress signal showing that the factory inside the child's body is not running properly. When this condition persists, the circulation of qi and blood is disrupted, and the essence qi needed for growth becomes deficient. Children naturally replenish life energy through food, using this energy to grow tall, strengthen bones, and develop cognitive sharpness, but when the spleen and stomach are weak, this process slows down. The Donguibogam emphasized that for children with weak digestion, it is crucial to invigorate the spleen and harmonize the stomach, strengthening and balancing the digestive center to replenish the body's foundational energy. A parent's wish for a child to eat well and grow vigorously is the same now as it was in the past.
