Nursery World - Positive Relationships: Mealtimes

Mealtimes can present a number of challenges for both practitioners
and parents. Penny Tassoni looks at the key issues and suggests some
ways of addressing them.

The desire to eat and drink is instinctive. After all, food and hydration are needed for survival. In view of this, it is interesting that mealtimes can prove tricky for parents and indeed for some early years settings. In order to support parents with mealtimes, it is worth exploring some of the issues involved.

AN EMOTIONAL SITUATION

One of the reasons that mealtimes can be tricky is because they can quickly become packed full of emotion. Most parents are primed to ensure the survival of their children and as part of this package to nourish them.

This means that emotions can easily run high when a child refuses to try food or appears not to have eaten enough. This, in turn, can lead to situations when parents offer alternative foods that they know the child will eat, or to force the child to eat up.

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