5 Tips for Taking Back Your Dinner Table
I LOVE feeding people, especially my family… I do not however LOVE a dinner table that feels like a battleground. 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 is happening all over a green bean or a piece of spinach.
I’m sharing some tips for how we converted our dinner table from a battleground into a better place of conversation and connection for our family. It is my prayer for you as you put some of these tips into action that your dinner table would become a place where trying new things becomes easier. A place where more time is spent talking to each other than about the food. As your kids grow older, I pray they look back and think about all of the conversations that your family had around the table and they are reminded of home… and they want to go back to those times.
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.
Make Your Own Replacement Meal
Two options - that’s it.
Picky eaters make their own replacement 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!
Include Something the Kids Like with Every Meal
Even if is just some fruit or bread.
When kids see something they like on the plate, they are less distracted by what they “might” not like and are more likely to try something new.
A Little Sauce
...goes a long way
Pay attention to the types of food (especially sauces) that 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 saute any vegetable in just about anything. He would eat them right up. The same thing works with dipping sauces as well.
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 from my first cookbook, Let’s Eat.
