You might not agree but… healthy eating for life starts with relaxed family meals.
Try these low effort high impact tips today
Part 1
Back to basics
Avoid isolated meals sat alone with an iPad or a caring adult staring at them, coaxing them to eat = power struggles
Children eat more with a “present” adult eating along side them (trust me I’ve tested my theory).
Instead of talking about broccoli or how much they have eaten… lighten the mood with this instead.
Did you know?
Conversation starters and games for family meals can help to keep them interesting and fun. Meals that are sociable and fun to be a part of, where the focus is not on the food can help to reduce picky eating.
would you rather…
The “would you rather” game:
Would you rather be XXX, you just change the ending such as “would you rather be a donkey or a giraffe?” Simple and silly.
Open questions
Share a story from when you were young as a child.
Or play the super power game….
If I had a super power I would…
Or I am grateful xxxx, your turn
if you…
Open questions
For example: If you could only eat one fruit forever – what fruit would it be? What are three words you would uses to describe yourself? If you went to another planet – what would you bring with you?
Visual
Make things visual-Take photos of the children with an instant camera eating meals and hang them on a string washing line or create a bulletin board near the dinning area to refer back to when they have tried new things- further building up their positive associations with meals. You can even take photos of the food and use this to create a menu.