I LOVE feeding people, especially my family. I DO NOT LOVE, however, a dinner table that feels like a battleground. Can you relate?
Dinnertime can be filled with lots of challenges. In many cases, our pride and strong will can rear its ugly head before we even realize what’s happening—all over a green bean or a piece of spinach.
Here are some tips for how you can transform your dinner table from a battleground into a place of conversation and connection for your family. It’s my prayer for you as you put some of these tips into action that your dinner table would become a place where trying new foods becomes easier. A place where more time is spent talking to each other than about the food. And as your kids grow older, I pray they’ll look back and think about all of the conversations your family had around the table and they’ll be reminded of home… and they’ll want to go back to those times.
#1 The “No, thank you” bite. Trying something new isn’t optional. Everyone needs to try one bite of everything on their plate. If they don’t like it, the only acceptable comment is, “No,thank you!” It’s that simple. There doesn’t need to be any conversation around this, AND as a bonus, you’re teaching them to be polite when they share a meal in someone else’s home.
#2 Make your own replacement meal. Give two options—that’s it. Picky eaters make their own replacement meal if they don’t like the family meal. In our house, it was a PB&J or a turkey sandwich. That gets old really fast. With our boys, this worked to our advantage for sure!
#3 Include something the kids like with every meal. Even if it’s just some fruit or bread, make sure there’s some food the kids like at the meal. When kids see a food they like on theirplate, they are less distracted by what they “might” not like and are more likely to try something new.
#4 A little sauce goes a long way. Pay attention to the types of food (especially sauces) your kids like at mealtimes. One of our kids LOVED soy sauce (and still does), so over time I made every vegetable I could think of with a little bit of soy sauce. After cooking them with soy sauce for a while I started pulling back and eventually could grill, roast, or sauté any vegetable in just about anything. He would eat them right up. The same thing works with dipping sauces as well.
#5 If at first you don’t succeed…try, try again! Over time our taste buds change and our palates mature. If your kids didn’t like green beans or bananas a year ago, they might like them now, or might like them a different way. Be sure to offer your kids new opportunities to try foods they didn’t love the first time around. Also, be mindful to give your kids the chance to try foods you don’t necessarily love.
When your kids try something new, it never hurts to celebrate with a cookie! I recommend a Grain-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie. Get the recipe here.
