series

Go back to the Introduction if you want to make sure you read every post in this series in the right order. This post contains affiliate links, meaning I can earn a small commission if you decide to purchase after clicking on one of my links.  Cooking You’re probably thinking “I’ve come here to learn how to get my kid to try any food and here I am reading about cooking”. The truth is, without you cooking, there wouldn’t be much food to eat anyway, so might as well learn to cook it, right? Cooking happens to be my passion … Read more

To get the full picture of what I am talking about, check out the Introduction, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5 here first.   Good food   If we look at the last elements of a child learning how to eat, in essence they are related to one thing only: food.   Most particularly, how it tastes, how it smells and how it feels like.   These three make up the core of the food story children tell themselves at every meal and the hardest to get right.   Because they are entirely subjective. What I like … Read more

Go back to the Introduction, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 to read everything from the beginning.   Language   I’ve mentioned how sight plays an important role at mealtimes.   What a child hears also can affect his eating.   I’m rather of the opinion that silence is golden when eating, because I like to enjoy my food in peace when I am alone.   However, since having two kids, that hasn’t happened once, so I gave up my expectations in that regard.   So, how do we make the mealtime environment sound better and encourage eating?   … Read more

Read the Introduction here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here, to make sure you follow along in the right sequence.   Modelling   In the previous part, I mentioned children learn how to eat a particular food by touching, smelling, looking, grabbing and putting them in and out of their mouths. They also use their sense of hearing to evaluate what goes on in their environment at mealtimes.   These might sound like they can only refer to the mechanical aspect of things. A baby just starting on solids might show this behaviour more clearly than a 3 year … Read more

Read the Introduction and Part 2 of this series here.  Stories     One of the thoughts that also kept popping in my head during those times was   “they aren’t going to eat it cause they didn’t eat it last time”.   Imagine you’re learning to drive and during your first practical lesson you can’t start your engine right, your engine dies during a maneuver or you miss a gear when switching.   If you thought “hey, I’m not going to do this again cause I failed last time” it would be kind of crazy to believe anyone could … Read more

If you ended up on this page first, read the Introduction first.   Mindset   To start off this series of posts, I want to talk about mindset.   It’s not something people really talk about when it comes to feeding kids, because let’s face it. Who has time to think about the deep stuff? You just put the plate on the table and they eat. Done. Easy peasy.   Well, if it was that easy, you probably wouldn’t read this text right now.   Mindset (my thoughts and beliefs) was a big hurdle for me. It was the roadblock … Read more