Mealtime Madness

It's dinner time. What's happening at your house? I'm sure it looks something like this. Everyone is sitting at the table. Engaged in conversation, using their manners, eating what you made and talking about how delicious dinner is...Oh wait! I'm sorry. I was obviously transported so some sort of 1950's dreamland. If your family is anything like mine when my kids were little, someone has said EWW or GROSS! Someone has spilt their milk. Someone has climbed in and out of their seat 900 times.  And by the time I got to eat my food was cold. In other words, not necessarily a relaxing or enjoyable experience.

It goes without saying that mealtimes can be challenging with young children. There are several reason for these challenges. Here are just a few:

1. Developmental-Young children can be naturally clumsy as they are learning how their body works and developing their motor skills. This can obviously lead to some messes. Another developmental challenge is a young child's attention span. Keep mealtime short; no more than 20 minutes. 
2. Picky Eaters-A common problem for many parents of toddlers is picky eating. Some kids are naturally more sensitive to tastes, smells and textures. Other times, kids discover that food is one of the things they can control. Also, they can learn their picky eating from their parents or other family members. It can take up to 20 times trying a new food for a child to know if they like it or not. 
3. Portion-sizes-I remember being very worried that my first was not eating enough when she was a toddler. My idea of portion-size was skewed. A good rule of thumb for kids is 1 Tbsp per year is a serving. So a two-year-old would eat 2 Tbsp of peas to equal 1 serving of vegetable.

I could probably keep listing challenges, but it seems like it might be good to start looking at solutions. 

1. Set clear age-appropriate expectations and rules. 
2. Model your expectations. Say please and thank you. Eat a variety of food. Try new foods. 
3. Utilize the division of labor.
1. Parents' Jobs-Decide when, what, where and how the meal will be served. 
2. Children's Jobs-Decide what and how much to eat of the foods you offer. 
4. Cook one meal. Once your child has moved beyond eating purees and is eating bite-size pieces of food offer them the same food as you are eating, as long as there is no safety issue (i.e., choking hazard.) It can be helpful to include one food that you know your child will eat if you are offering something they might not like. 
5. Involve your child in food prep. Let them choose foods to try at the grocery store. Give them age appropriate jobs. Click here for a list of age-appropriate kitchen tasks.
6. Schedule snacks and meals throughout the day. Try not to feed your child a snack 2 hours before a meal. 

If you want to learn more about mealtimes and feeding young children, check out the The Ellen Satter Institute. 

Building Your Child's Brain

Did you know that South Washington County ECFE offers online parent education classes? Our 6-week online class offers a unique mix of in-person and online learning. Families participating in the this class join us in-person for parent and child activities on the first and last evenings of the class. During the four weeks in between, all learning happens online. Parents join one of our parent educators for a weekly chat on Thursdays at 8:15 pm-9 pm. Each week, materials are posted to the online class page for parents to check out when it is convenient for them. 

Starting on Thursday, February 22nd, our newest online class, Building Your Child's Brain, will begin. One thing that is frequently heard about brain development is that 90% of brain development occurs during the first 5 years of life. While it is important for parents to know this information, it can be a little daunting when we think about ways to help support and encourage brain development. The goal of this course is provide parents with information and practical tips and activities that will assist them in supporting and encouraging their child's brain development.

Each week we will explore a different focus in the area of brain development. The schedule of the class will be as follows:

• Week 1-In-Person at the District Program Center (DPC) in Cottage Grove at 6pm-7:30pm. We will spend some time getting to know one another, enjoy parent-child activities and get an overview of the online class site. 
• Week 2 Online-Movement and Brain Development. Explore why movement is so important to brain development. 
• Week 3 Online-Play and Brain Development. Play is how young children learn. Parents will learn more about how and why play is a key to brain development. 
• Week 4 Online-Technology and Brain Development. Technology is so prevalent in our lives today. Learn more about how technology impacts brain development. 
• Week 5 Online-Parent-Child Interactions and Brain Development. Learn more about how parent-child relationships, including discipline, impacts brain development. 
• Week 6-In-Person at the DPC in Cottage Grove at 6pm-7:30pm. We will enjoy some more parent-child activity and have time to recap and answer any remaining questions from the class.  

We hope you will join us for this class. The cost for this class is $30. Registration available at South Washington County ECFE.