Food plays a crucial role in our lives, enabling us to refuel our bodies so they work efficiently. For certain periods of the day, therefore, we concentrate on preparing and consuming it.
Eating is also a social experience valued in all religions and societies.
It is an opportunity to sit together, share ideas and thoughts, and reflect on the events of the day. From the moment babies sit up independently they should be initiated into the rituals of sharing mealtimes with adults and other children.
Early years practitioners in day nurseries and childminders have a very important part to play in involving children in these rituals and in supporting parents and families to value eating together.
A healthy eating policy
Think carefully about the sort of food you offer babies and young children.
Write a food policy to share with parents, informing them about healthy eating and reassuring them that you take food seriously. Stress that you see food as an important factor in good child development. Take some of the following guidance into consideration when writing your policy:
* There is a window of opportunity between the ages of nine and 18 months when babies are most open to new food and tastes. Ensure that you take advantage of this period by offering lots of interesting foods from around the world.
* Choose exciting menus, using simple fresh ingredients that are nutritious and easy to prepare.
* Ask parents whether their children have any food allergies and record this information, making it available to all staff members.
* Record any religious food preferences and make this available to staff.
* Make sure that adults have a positive attitude towards the food provided, because children learn to like or dislike a taste by copying the behaviour of caring adults.
* Try not to disguise food for children. They should know about vegetables, salads, fruit, cereals, fish and meat, and learn to distinguish and name all these food groups.
* Present food attractively on central serving dishes so it looks appetising.
* Plan mealtimes so adult carers sit and eat with small groups of children.
* Plan a balanced diet and create and display menus that parents would be pleased to eat.
Eating together
Babies who develop the strength and co-ordination to sit unsupported begin to gain good control of their arms and hands. At this age they hold principally with the palmer grasp, using the entire hand to grab and manipulate objects. Babies enjoy practising co-ordination skills, picking things up, moving them around, pushing them into the mouth and using their senses to find out as much as they can. By eight months most babies have a number of milk teeth to aid these investigations.
Adults should organise mealtimes to ensure that children of different ages eat together in small family groups. Babies learn by watching and listening to the older children and will copy what they eat and how they eat it.
Older children enjoy taking responsibility for offering food to babies and involving them in the conversation.
To organise mealtimes so children learn to enjoy food and socially interact, adults will need to:
* Ensure that all children are sitting at the table at the same level. This means babies should be in secure low-level seats that fit around the table.
* Provide central platters of food so children learn to help themselves, but offer food to younger children and babies.
* Encourage all children to use eating utensils that suit their stage of fine-motor control. For example, older children can have knives and forks, younger ones spoons, and babies can use their hands or spoons.
* Ensure that every child, including babies, has a name card to indicate where they should sit so they feel fully included in the group and respected by having a specific place at the table.
* Ensure that water is available in jugs with cups or beakers so the children can pour drinks for themselves and the younger ones.
To help make meals a social event and prevent conflict while eating:
* Chat with children during the meal, shifting attention away from how much they eat. Children usually eat as much as they need without adults having to remind them to eat. Making the food appetising and helping children to take control of the amount they consume ensures that there are no unnecessary confrontations.
* Ensure that sufficient time is allocated for the whole event. Rushing children is not a good idea in any circumstances.
* With new foods, offer children the chance to taste a little at first and ask their opinion of how the new food tastes and feels. It is often surprising how much interest and engagement children show if they are asked for their views.
* Encourage them to learn about balanced meals by explaining the benefits of green, orange and yellow vegetables. Children may be accustomed to pre-cooked processed meals at home so you should make sure that the whole range of food you offer is seen as a healthy alternative.
* Let children eat as much as they want, helping themselves and the younger ones and babies to seconds. By taking the spotlight off food intake, children are more likely to eat sensibly and healthily.
* Create a menu that has three or four week cycles, using various combinations of ingredients. For example, each week offer rice, pasta, noodles, potatoes and bulgar wheat to vary their carbohydrate intake; choose vegetables, salads and fruits that are in season and introduce less usual foods such as olives, peppers, pickled cucumbers and beetroot. Add garlic, onions and herbs to dishes, but avoid salt, sugar and excess saturated fat.
Encouraging interest
Parents and carers tend to worry excessively when children refuse to eat or pick at food. Trust children to eat when they are hungry and to work out how to balance their food intake. Make sure that snacks between meals are healthy so the children do not graze all the time and are therefore not hungry during meals.
Examples of healthy snacks include: milk, yogurt, pieces of fruit, pieces of carrot, small pieces of brown bread, rice crackers, small pieces of hard cheese, dried apricots and pitted olives.
Ensure that children also enjoy high levels of physical activity balanced with calm periods of concentration and rest. Children need to burn energy to build up a healthy appetite. Playing outdoors and going for walks in the park ensure that children breathe fresh air and exercise their muscles. The exertion of energy will make them more receptive to eating sensibly together and will provide lots to talk about at the table.
If children refuse food, do not insist or make them feel excluded from the social event or conversation. Encourage them to have a little more of something else on offer with that course or for dessert, such as fruit or cheese and crackers.
The efforts you make at this early stage in children's development will have a profound impact on the way they view food and eating for the rest of their lives. Make meals nutritious and the experience of eating enjoyable so they grow up healthy and able to make responsible choices about food. NW
