MAKING MEALTIMES PLEASANT

Sandra Ryan R.D.
Nutritionist
Iowa Department of Public Health

Elisabeth Schafer Ph.D.
Associate Professor - Extension Nutrition and Health Specialist
Iowa State University

Copyright/Access Information


The following tips can help the children who eat with you to develop positive attitudes toward food and the meal experience:

• Make mealtimes pleasant by showing your enthusiasm for good foods. Children will feel more comfortable if you sit with them and share the same meal.
  
• Help children become more independent by serving foods family-style. Even young children can learn to serve themselves from a medium-sized serving bowl. Older children love to help pour milk or juice into child-sized glasses.
  
• Try using serving utensils of a particular color to help children identify serving utensils from eating utensils. It's easier for children to remember not to lick the red spoon. If you can't find colored plastic utensils, you can mark serving utensil, handles with vinyl tape. This tape lasts a long time and stays on well in the dishwasher.
  
• Provide child-sized utensils for eating. Small spoons are essential. A small, shallow bowl is much better than a plate as it allows children to scoop up their food more easily.
  
• Remember that eating is a social time. Children should be seated around a table so that they can talk with and observe one another. Some providers use a child-sized table for meal; others arrange chairs, high chairs, and booster seats around the family table.
  
• Learning eating skills can be messy in the beginning. Encourage children to help you clean up spills. Placing a drop cloth or old shower curtain on the floor also can make cleanup easier. Have paper towels and a sponge handy. A spill is not a catastrophe.
  
• Serve a small amount of a new food alongside foods more familiar to the child. Children may be afraid to try a new food. Serving it with familiar foods makes the experience more appealing.
  
• Serve a new food several times. The more chances children have to try a new food, the more likely they are to accept it. Offer the new food first to a child who enjoys trying new things. Other children will follow this child's lead.
  
• Plan fun food activities to encourage children to try new foods. Read a book about the new food, and then serve the new food as a snack when children are hungry. Getting them involved in preparation will also boost self-confidence.
  
• Serve soft finger foods frequently. Foods such as small meat or cheese cubes, vegetable sticks, and fruit chunks teach coordination to children. Soft finger foods are a good way to introduce new foods.
  
• Never force a child to eat. It is normal for children to eat a lot one day and almost nothing the next. Deciding how much to eat at a given meal or snack is the child's job. Your job is to serve a variety of nutritious, tasty foods.
  
• Avoid bribing or rewarding children for trying new foods. These techniques make children believe that new foods are undesirable.
  
• Respect and value cultural eating differences. Introduce children to foods from different cultures. Encourage them to share stories about their various cultures.