We have some confessions to make. Take a breath...
Our kids are not perfect eaters. (gasp)
It's true. While this is silly to dramaticize, so many people are shocked when we tell them we have a very picky eater in our house. "How can that be?" they wonder.
Let me tell you how... children have a freaking mind of their own. Crazy, right? And guess what? We have NOT always handled this pickiness in the best way.
We have given rules, "eat two more bites of your chicken."
We have bribed with sweets, "finish one piece of broccoli and you can have a bowl of ice cream."
I cringe... because we know a different way to approach feeding now. So here's another confession...
This doctor and this dietitian are NOT perfect parents (or eaters, for that matter). Whew. I am really glad we got that off our chests. Let's just start together on a level playing field.
But in all seriousness, we are just like you. Parents of wild children with minds of their own, despite our experience and degrees. We know what the research says about creating healthy habits for the best long term eating success, but we don't always follow the research. We want them to eat. Now. Today. So we give in and are inconsistent.
Well, we started to change the way we handled food. We gave the Division of Responsibility a chance to succeed in our house. We are still a work in progress but we have seen great changes in our children's food intake and meal times.
We have less stress because mealtime is no longer a battle of wills to eat one bite of vegetables.
Our children are choosing to eat things that they had never tried or tasted before.
Would you like to join us?
Do you want to decrease stress around mealtimes?
Would you like to have children who eat more fruits and vegetables and healthy choices instead of always begging to eat the sweet treats?
If this sounds intriguing, follow us along this journey through this blog and connect with us on Instagram.
A great place to start to help parents know what their role in their child's feeding is to incorporate serving Family Style Meals. We created an eBook to help parents switch to this method of meals successfully. We have found this method to be instrumental in helping us follow the Division of Responsibility and allow our children to take control back of listening to and honoring their bodies and hunger. Grab the eBook here!
For more information on Division of Responsibility, check out Ellyn Satter