Episode #7: Picky Eater's Club

I was a SUPER picky eater as a kid. Pasta with butter and cheese was my nightly meal (and still my go to comfort food!). My husband was raised by an Italian immigrant father who studied at the Culinary Institute of America and valued nourishing food and one meal for everyone above all else.

So when we came together to create mealtime rituals and rules for our own family, battles ensued. If our kids didn’t like something served, I would offer to cook another meal (or more honestly pop a bagel in the toaster). If they refused to eat the vegetable on their plate, my husband threatened to withhold dessert. No one was winning and everyone was losing – mostly our kids.

Thankfully, we met Caitlin Sullivan Kiare. Caitlin is a Registered Dietician Nutritionist and founder of Mom-N-Tot Nutrition and she’s on a mission to help parents navigate mealtime without stress or guilt.

Caitlin revolutionized the way we view mealtimes in our house. Rather than making sure our kids cleaned their plate before dessert or ate whatever/whenever they wanted to, she helped us understand that we were building our kid’s RELATIONSHIP with food. She shifted the narrative from feeling like there are good foods and bad foods to believing that

ALL FOODS FIT.

It’s not our job to control what our kids consume. That choice is theirs and if we model a positive relationship with food ourselves, our kids will develop one as well.

When we relax around food battles and promote intuitive eating, everybody wins.

How do YOU want your kids to feel at the dinner table? Anxious, stressed and controlled? Or relaxed, open and receptive to trying new things?

It starts with us.

On today’s “Good Enough Parenting” podcast, I chat with Caitlin about how we can change our kid’s relationship with food (and our own!) by shifting the energy we bring to meal times. 

She reminds that if we over-restrict certain foods, our kids will end up overconsuming those in the future.

She reminds us that it is important for kids to have autonomy over what they put in their own bodies.

She reminds us that bribing, punishing, and convincing kids at the dinner table leads to unhealthy food choices down the line (i.e. let me get through the yucky stuff to get to the dessert).

As Thanksgiving approaches and we prepare to share a feast with family and friends, I hope that my conversation with Caitlin can serve as a reminder that mealtime is about so much more than counting how many servings of vegetables your kid consumes.

It’s about sharing sacred moments of connection over a family meal, with gratitude, love and acceptance. You are a good parent even if your kid only eats the stuffing. And if they just have the pie, that’s good enough too.

If you love what you hear and want to work with Caitlin you can find her at www.momntotnutrition.com