What I have found works for us a lot is getting my son involved in cooking the meal. He’s only 2 but can do quite a bit. Washing the vegetables. Using a Montessori style knife to cut soft veg and fruit. Move the chopped contents from the chopping board to the bowl, pot, pan. Throwing away the packaging and food waste into the compost bin or recycling bin or general waste. He loves picking which bin things go into. He turns on the oven or air fryer. He stirs the food with a wooden spoon in the pot or pan (with supervision). He even does imaginative play with Lego blocks around food prep and cooking (and grocery shopping which we do together too) - he finds it all so much fun.
He will graze throughout the prep. And then eat the food once it’s cooked even if he’s never had it before.
Often times, I reheat the previous day’s dinner for lunch the next day, and he will refuse to eat it and demand some junk food instead. The only major difference is that he wasn’t involved in the meal prep the second time around, so I really think that makes a difference.
Another helpful thing is the social factor. Seeing daddy eat his vegetables with gusto - because he wants to be just like daddy. Or when there’s older kids around even better , as he wants to copy everything they do even more so than daddy.
When does the podcast drop?! So excited. I love Hunt, Gather, Parent and started following you because you reflect similar perspectives! Can't wait to hear what the two of you discussed. 🥰
I love how you define autonomy and compare it to leniency. Early in my parenting, someone advised me to just not engage in a power struggle and I swear that's the reason we never had big food fights, even with sensory issues thrown in there.
I’m kind of disturbed that this wasn’t obvious and that this article had to be written because there’re parents who don’t know this. Parenting in the US is very strange if this is a revelation. I’m not saying this to be mean, reading something like this was just a very jarring experience. I really like how you synthesized at the end make it family fun time instead of a struggle.
The airplane (car/motorbike/train) still works for almost-6-year-old along with rewards of high fives or fist bumps for every bite. Until reading this I felt kind of embarrassed/worried that we used these techniques. Now I feel better, thanks! 😅
I love the solution suggested in “How to talk so little kids will listen”. Serve an empty plate. Offer them everything once or twice, and back off when you sense resistance. Sometimes their answers will disappoint you. But that’s ok. It’s a war. And this is just the first salvo 😂 Now my firstborn demands half the spinach and we need to make more.
What I have found works for us a lot is getting my son involved in cooking the meal. He’s only 2 but can do quite a bit. Washing the vegetables. Using a Montessori style knife to cut soft veg and fruit. Move the chopped contents from the chopping board to the bowl, pot, pan. Throwing away the packaging and food waste into the compost bin or recycling bin or general waste. He loves picking which bin things go into. He turns on the oven or air fryer. He stirs the food with a wooden spoon in the pot or pan (with supervision). He even does imaginative play with Lego blocks around food prep and cooking (and grocery shopping which we do together too) - he finds it all so much fun.
He will graze throughout the prep. And then eat the food once it’s cooked even if he’s never had it before.
Often times, I reheat the previous day’s dinner for lunch the next day, and he will refuse to eat it and demand some junk food instead. The only major difference is that he wasn’t involved in the meal prep the second time around, so I really think that makes a difference.
Another helpful thing is the social factor. Seeing daddy eat his vegetables with gusto - because he wants to be just like daddy. Or when there’s older kids around even better , as he wants to copy everything they do even more so than daddy.
When does the podcast drop?! So excited. I love Hunt, Gather, Parent and started following you because you reflect similar perspectives! Can't wait to hear what the two of you discussed. 🥰
I love how you define autonomy and compare it to leniency. Early in my parenting, someone advised me to just not engage in a power struggle and I swear that's the reason we never had big food fights, even with sensory issues thrown in there.
I’m kind of disturbed that this wasn’t obvious and that this article had to be written because there’re parents who don’t know this. Parenting in the US is very strange if this is a revelation. I’m not saying this to be mean, reading something like this was just a very jarring experience. I really like how you synthesized at the end make it family fun time instead of a struggle.
The airplane (car/motorbike/train) still works for almost-6-year-old along with rewards of high fives or fist bumps for every bite. Until reading this I felt kind of embarrassed/worried that we used these techniques. Now I feel better, thanks! 😅
You would love to read the “division of responsibility” by Ellen Satter.
I love the solution suggested in “How to talk so little kids will listen”. Serve an empty plate. Offer them everything once or twice, and back off when you sense resistance. Sometimes their answers will disappoint you. But that’s ok. It’s a war. And this is just the first salvo 😂 Now my firstborn demands half the spinach and we need to make more.