• ABOUT US

  • CHILD CARE CENTERS

  • FAMILIES

  • RECIPES

  • BLOG

  • RESOURCES

  • SUPPORT US

  • More

    • Wix Facebook page
    • Pinterest App Icon
    • Wix Twitter page
    Inspiring Healthy Habits One Bite at a Time
    Featured Posts

    Back to School: Shared Snacks for the Classroom

    September 4, 2014

    How My Daughter Got My Son to Eat an Artichoke

    January 8, 2014

    Why I'm Not Going to Worry about Halloween Anymore

    October 30, 2014

    1/6
    Please reload

    Recent Posts

    My Kids vs Lentil Soup: The Winners and Losers

    December 4, 2014

    A Super Food Cards Giveaway!

    November 10, 2014

    Why I'm Not Going to Worry about Halloween Anymore

    October 30, 2014

    24 New Ways to Serve Apples, Bananas & Cucumber at Snack Time (Kids 2+ can make these all!)

    October 20, 2014

    We Challenged 4 Families to Try Family Style Dining for 3 Weeks....What Happened

    September 30, 2014

    For the Love of Condiments

    September 12, 2014

    Back to School: Shared Snacks for the Classroom

    September 4, 2014

    Will One Small Change at Meals Influence How Children Eat? Four Families Take Our Challenge

    August 27, 2014

    Back To School Freezer Favorites (perfect for a busy breakfast, lunch or dinner!)

    August 10, 2014

    #NoJunkInTheBunk

    July 15, 2014

    Please reload

    Search By Tags

    back to school

    birthday party

    early childhood

    freezer

    halloween

    health eating

    healthy eating

    kids

    new york times

    obesity

    organics

    photo

    preschool

    school lunch

    Please reload

    Follow Us
    • Facebook Classic
    • Twitter Classic

    We Challenged 4 Families to Try Family Style Dining for 3 Weeks....What Happened

    September 30, 2014

    When we last left off with our four families, they were approaching the final week of our "One Small Change, Big Results Meal Time" challenge. Some families stuck exactly to the advice we gave, and some modified the guidance to better fit their family and their dinner time routine. So now that the challenge is over, what stuck and what did not?  We asked our challengers to sum up what aspects of the family style plan they liked, and will keep, and areas where they still need to work on.

     

     

    Across the board, the families stated that:

    • The kids all enjoyed having some control over what and how much they were eating at dinner.  Whether it was having the responsibility of passing the bowl to the next person at the table, pouring themselves a glass of water or scooping the vegetables onto their plates, the participants commented over all their child(ren) enjoyed the process of being involved in dinner

    • Participants noticed an uptick in the amount of fruit and vegetables their children were willing to try. One participant noted that “my son would put a small scoop of everything at the table on their plate, even items I have noticed he normally would refuse.” While not all the participant’s children would eat full servings of the vegetables or fruits offered, they were willing to try.

    • Clean up and more dishes were a problem initially, but working the new style into their routine provided family help and extra time spent together.
       

    Some other interesting findings were:

    • “Dessert is no longer something that the kids will hold out for ever since we started serving it at the same time as dinner.  The kids will now eat their portion, but are not begging for something sweet after the meal which was a pleasant surprise!”

    • “We talk a lot about what snacks my son will bring to school.  I think he could cut a lot of it up on his own, but he's usually eating breakfast while I'm getting it ready.  We talk a lot about what, how much and in which container.  Not exactly the same as self-service, but I think he's highly involved and usually eats what we pick out.  Mostly fruit, some crackers with guacamole, some carrots.”

    • “I think that family style eating is an effective way to teach my kids how to listen to their own bodies and fullness cues so they won’t have the same struggles (as my husband does with food now).”
       

    Out of the four families we worked with for this challenge, all four mentioned that they would stick with some aspect of family style dining, and saw that overall they were having an easier dinner time with more time spent together as a family. 

     

    Please reload

    • facebook
    • Pinterest Clean Grey
    • Twitter Clean

    © 2013 by First Bites.

    All rights reserved

    Contact

    caron@firstbites.org