Are you finding mealtimes to be slow and challenging? Mealtimes should be a fun and happy experience. This article explores ways to switch up mealtimes. Eating meals together as a family is a great chance to have a giggle and spend quality time with your kids!
Why is it Important to Make Mealtimes Fun?
Eating together as a family can reinforce bonds as you share your thoughts, feelings, and space. It’s healthy to open conversation and encourage your kids to talk about their lives and how they feel. This openness and togetherness will help them to communicate and understand others in the future.
This time away from screens, to bask in the present, is special and should be treated as so. It gives your child a sense of routine, and a chance to express themselves in a safe space.
This safe space to talk will help your child develop into a well-rounded adult. Sitting down together regularly will strengthen their sense of identity, self-esteem, and help them carve their own values. In addition, if you make meals fun and interactive, they’ll view food and eating as a positive experience!
Here are Some Easy Ways to Make Mealtimes Fun!
For younger kids:
1. Make games out of mealtimes.
Use it as a time to have silly interactions with your child. For instance, you could make up some games such as:
Create a reward system: ‘Whoever eats all their veggies up gets a golden star!’ (With a certain number of golden stars adding up to a special treat). Try creating a chart on the wall so they can see their progress. However, this special treat doesn’t have to be food related, but can be a trip to the cinema, a museum, or sitting down with your child to play their favourite game.
Educational games: ‘Can you name all the food and veggies on your plate as you eat them up?’ This will help them to understand what they are consuming, and thus be less afraid of veggies.
2. Fun aesthetics.
Try arranging your food and veg to make fun shapes like faces, words, and numbers.
Create bright plates of fruit and veg to stimulate your child’s brain and entice them in.
3. Offer them lots of praise and space.
Keep meal portions small for young kids and offer praise. Toddlers don’t need bigger portions and can always have more if they want it! This will make them feel good about finishing their food.
Allow your child to be messy and eat with their hands if they want to. It’s all a learning process and in their early days of learning to eat, this may be easier for them. Playing with their food can make it a fun activity too!
Give them space to eat in their own time without fussing too much. This will give them more control over their eating and encourage them to do it themselves.
For older kids:
1. Dinner is a great time for conversation.
Go around the table and tell each other one positive thing about your day.
Anne Fishel, executive director of the Family Dinner Project, says that only about 30% of families manage to eat together regularly. Her advice to make dinnertime interesting is to say a rose, a thorn, and a bud: a rose is something funny or positive. A thorn is something challenging, and a bud is something you hope will happen tomorrow.
You can alternatively play a word game together around the table to liven it up. End dinner with a fun board game one night a week to socialise with your kids more.
2. Nice table settings. Creating a warm environment can help everyone to enjoy mealtimes more.
You could put some music on in the background for a calm atmosphere.
Create relaxing lighting using candles and lamps for ambience.
Lay the table and go the extra mile to make it look inviting.
3. Cook together.
You can teach your children life skills by getting them involved!
Cooking can be fun if you get your kids to help, and it might encourage them to eat more too!
They will feel like they have accomplished something by helping you cook. It will also teach them valuable life skills.
Try growing your own veggies together, so that they can help cook and then eat food they have nurtured themselves! This could encourage them to eat more greens and make eating them exciting.
Conclusion…
There are a variety of ways to make mealtimes fun and interactive, and it’s totally worth it. Above all, you will form closer connections, form healthy habits for your kids and hopefully have some laughs in the process!
We at Veginom want to help you and your children’s health in any way we can! Promoting a healthy lifestyle is our goal for the future of today’s children. If you need any further assistance, then feel free to contact us here.