Family Mealtime: More Than Just a Meal

The family meal is the center of family life. It's where we get together after a long day of work or school, and often the only time everyone is in one spot before escaping into separate TV shows, games, books, or even going back to work. However, it can often be a difficult experience for a parent.  If your child is reluctant to try new things, often we get worried that if we do not prepare a second meal, then they will refuse to eat. Feeding is a complicated task involving the coordination of muscles, input from senses (touch, taste, sight, smell, hearing), and an emotional response to the food and environment. Children who have challenges with feeding may have difficulties in any, or all, of these areas. Without diving too much into what feeding treatment is, let's talk about the first thing I recommend to parents.

Exposing our children to new food experiences begins with family mealtime. Let's say chicken with broccoli and buttered noodles are on the menu tonight, everyone would get a bit of each item on their plate. We still want to make sure we include at least one of our children's safety foods so that the mealtime is not an overwhelming and traumatic experience. During family meals, we want to avoid the terms "adult meals" and "kid meals" so that our children do not associate certain foods like fish, meat, and greens as "adult food" and chicken nuggets, pizza, and french fries as "kid meals". Everyone gets a bit...not a bite. Let's expand on that. Children shouldn't be forced to eat or try a the new food that is on their plates. Instead, talk about the new texture, smell, color, etc. The more we expose our children to different foods, the less anxious they may be about trying them in the future.

If you are struggling to expose your children to new foods, or are locked in mealtime mayhem, please feel free to reach out. We're here to make mealtime fun again.