Toddler-and-Preschooler Eating Hacks

Hello! I just thought I should share with you my top 5 "eating hacks" to make mealtime go more smoothly with your toddler.

1. Kaboost.

I am totally not getting paid to endorse this.

I am giving 100% of the credit for this find to my best friend Candace. We transitioned right from the high chair to this, and it has been worth every bit of the 40 bucks that I agonized over parting with at our local children's store. Also, I see these things selling USED for $30 on Facebook, so if you play your cards right, you may be able to have only spent a grand total of $10 in the long run! The Kaboost is super easy to use and adds height to almost any kitchen chair. There are two sides to it, so when your kid grows a little taller, you can flip it around and have the chair sit a smidge lower. Why is "smidge" not being recognized as a real word? Beats me! It's so much easier for your kid to eat properly when the table isn't at chin level.

2. A Real Cup.

Cups with puns tip over less. It's science.

My mom taught me this trick after she heard me lamenting of how often Q spilled her drink. She said something along the lines of, "Of course kids spill their drinks! We give them these flimsy, plastic cups that taper at the bottom. Have her drink out of a glass mug." So I started doing that, and there were WAY fewer spills! She has broken one mug so far, I believe, which isn't too bad!

3. (Almost) No Snacks.

This one might be a little controversial, but I discovered through trial and error that Q ate poorly at meals when she had snacks beforehand. We generally try to stick to a one-snack rule: One snack right after naptime, a couple of hours before dinner, if possible. I make exceptions if we're going a special place (such as Steven's cousin's cafe for tea and scones) or if Q has had a lot of physical exertion (like the ice skating we did this week). She doesn't follow me around asking for snacks all day, and she obviously isn't going hungry. I'm also teaching her an important lesson that I think many of us, as adults, fail at: just because you see someone eating, doesn't mean you get to eat. Does that seem harsh? I had to instate this rule so that I'm not having to feed my toddler candy and/or sugar tabs every time I have low blood sugar (which, for a while, was happening several times per day).

4. Eat At the Table.

We fudge on this rule a little bit for snack time, as long as it's not too messy, but as a general rule, we always eat at the table, and Q is not allowed to walk off with mouthfuls or handfuls of food. We stay sitting at the table until we're finished eating, and then we wipe our hands and take our plate to the sink. Eating purposefully this way has helped eliminate many messes around the house, as well as give us the time to pay attention to our body's fullness signals (at least, I think).

5. They Eat What You Eat.

Q didn't like this carrot soup. Which reminds me, I should make it again.

This isn't terribly original, but don't cook special "kid friendly" meals for your toddler. If you're making Thai pork salad, that's what they're having! If you're serving lemon pepper chicken and kale stir fry, don't prepare them plain chicken! You shouldn't have to cook two separate meals, and we have got to get out of this mentality of "kid food." You've probably heard that French kids will eat anything... That's because there is no "kid food" in France, and what the grown-ups are served is what the kids are served. That being said, if Q shows a strong dislike for something--particularly spicy things--I will give her the option of abstaining from that part of the meal.

Now what *I* really need practice on is not getting up half-a-dozen times during the meal to fetch things or clean a dirty dish or check my insulin pump, and to not wolf my food down. In many ways, Q is developing better eating habits than I have, and that is exactly how I wanted it.