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Happy Mealtimes for Healthy Kids
By: 2004 National Food Service Management Institute – The University of Mississippi

A meal is a planned social interaction centering around food. When mealtimes are happy, everyone benefits.

Mealtimes in child care centers should reflect “best practices” in child care. Important child care goals surrounding mealtimes are to help children eat healthy meals today and develop positive eating habits that will last a lifetime.

At the child care center, key considerations are that children:
• Have a pleasant mealtime atmosphere
• Practice appropriate mealtime behavior with little intervention
• Develop good eating habits
• Eat when they are hungry
• Stop when they are full
• Enjoy a variety of foods

An important “best prices” is to remember and implement the “Division of Responsibility in Feeding Children”.

Division of Responsibility in Feeding Children:
Adults are responsible for:
• Setting regular times for meals and snacks
• Planning and preparing healthy meals and snacks
• Assuring that the children come to the table at meal and snack times
• Creating a pleasant mealtime environment

Children are responsible for:
• Deciding which of the healthy foods offered they want to eat
• Deciding how much food they want to eat

Why should you encourage children to come to the table at meal and snack times?
Children can be very involved with their activities. Occasionally when you tell them it is “time for snack” or “time for lunch”, they may be hesitant to stop what they are doing. A transition time between active play and mealtime can help children “slow down” enough to focus on the meal or snack and eating. Music time, story time, circle time activities, or having the children help set the table or help with some food preparation activities often serves this purpose. Children may say they are not hungry for a meal or snack. You can assure them that if they are not hungry they do not need to eat but they should join the table so they can participate in the conversation. Often children will change their minds and have something to eat once they are sitting with their friends and watching their friends and teachers enjoy a great meal or snack.

What is a pleasant mealtime environment?
How is it created?
A pleasant mealtime is a relaxed time to share food and conversation. When mealtimes are pleasant, you and the children will enjoy the meal more. Children are more likely to eat well when they are in a pleasant environment. Plan carefully and offer meals to children in a relaxed setting. A transition activity between active play and mealtime is a good time to remind children of what they can expect and what you expect during the meal. When children understand what will “happen next” and how they are expected to behave, they feel more comfortable and can relax during the meal.

Suggested ideas include:
• We will be having lunch together in a few minutes
• Let’s wash our hands and then we will sit down at the tables together
• Remember to use our inside voices.

Another way to make mealtimes pleasant is to encourage child-directed conversation, focusing on the child’s interests and experiences. Encourage the children to talk more than the adults. The conversation at mealtimes does not need to be about the food, although occasionally the staff may want to draw the children’s attention to the food to encourage them to try a new food or to help them focus on eating. The mealtime conversation around food may include what kinds of foods are being offered, what color the foods are, how they are prepared, if the children eat these same foods at home, where the foods come from, and a variety of related topics. Conversation should not focus on which foods a child has chosen or how much a child has eaten. If the meal is about to end, you may want to ask the children if they have had enough to eat or remind children that the next meal or snack will be offered after a nap or at a certain time. Children should not be rushed through their meal. Careful planning and experience will let you know how much time the children need to eat in a relaxed setting.