Why I Let Children Eat Dessert First

     Conventional wisdom has taught us that children have to be told to eat their meals before they can have dessert. Instead of teaching children healthy eating habits, however, I believe this rule can actually foster an unhealthy relationship with food, and creates potential conflict where none needs to exist.

 

  Sweets Should Not Be A Reward; Healthy Food Is Not A Chore

    
     Making children eat their healthy food before they can have their sweets causes them to view sweets as a reward, and healthy foods as a chore--a burdensome task that has to be undertaken before they can have what they really want.

     When my siblings and I were children, my parents required us to eat all the food on our plates before we could have dessert or leave the table. Numerous times, my more stubborn brothers would sit at the table for hours after the meal had ended, simply to prove that nobody could force them to eat vegetables. And to what end? Those hours didn't make my brothers love or value vegetables any more.

     Many parents enforce a similar "clean your plate" rule or a rule where their child has to eat a certain number of bites of [meat, vegetables, fish, etc.] before they can move on to dessert. However, I believe such rules do little to ingrain healthy eating habits, and in fact may create unhealthy ones. Eating vegetables, meat, fish, and grains becomes a chore.

     Of course, these rules are made with the best of intentions. We want our children to be nourished, and we want them to learn to eat sugar in moderation. But when children learn to view sweets as a reward, eating them activates feelings of happiness and pride. In this way, sweets become a "comfort food" as children grow into teenagers and adults--precisely the opposite of how we want our children to feel.

Make Food A Choice

     At school, we allow the children to choose how to eat their lunch. The food in their lunchbox is all theirs, and they can eat as much or as little as they wish, in whatever order they wish.

     I know many parents don't like the idea of their child eating only their sweets at lunchtime, and leaving the rest of their lunch untouched. But the solution is simple: parents should only pack food that they would want their children to eat. After a morning filled with fun activities and plenty of outdoor time, children are hungry and do not often need encouragement to eat their lunches. Even without treats as a reward, many children finish all or most of the food that is packed for them.

     At home, it can be a little trickier to get the child to eat healthy foods if she knows that there are treats in the cupboard and freezer. But again there is a simple solution: fill the pantry and refrigerator only with food that you would be comfortable with our children eating. If the children ask, allow them to look through the cupboards for cookies and candy. Finding none, they will realize that sweets are not an option and they will have to choose from the options that are available, such as the healthy meal you provided, or, if you are ok with it, another healthy option from the pantry or refrigerator.

     Allowing a child to choose from a selection of foods that we define empowers the child. An empowered child is less likely to engage in power struggles. And when mealtime ceases to be a power struggle, not only will mealtimes be more pleasant, but children will be more likely to make healthy, balanced choices.

Posted with Blogsy

Cooking in the Outdoor Kitchen with Herbs and Sparkles

 

 

We use sand and water a lot in our outdoor sensory table. Last week I noticed that the children were collecting leaves and grass from the yard to add to the water in the table to make "soup". I decided to set up the sensory table on the porch, where there is more space for the children to work, and to add a few new sensory items that would expand the cooking experience.

 

I had just purchased a big supply of sparkles for the art cupboard that I thought would add an appealing visual element to the sensory experience. I mixed some sand with the sparkles to make them last longer and poured them into some empty spice containers. I also picked some fresh and fragrant herbs from the garden and put them in a basket near the sensory table along with bowls, pots, pans, and mixing spoons.

The sparkles were very popular and we had to refill a few times. I was really glad that I had decided to add sand to the sparkles, otherwise we would have gone through our entire supply. 

 

The children "cooked" lots of different things, but wedding cake and soup were the two most popular dishes today.

What Will the Ants Eat?

Last week we found a whole bunch of pill bugs under some rocks in our playground, and ever since then the class has been all about bugs. Every time we go outside we turn over all of the rocks to look for bugs, though the bugs seem to have learned their lesson as we never find them under the rocks anymore.

 

Still, we look for bugs outside every day and yesterday we found some ants marching around looking for food. We wondered what kind of food the ants would like to eat and decided to find out. I put together bits of random food that we had in the classroom to make an ant food platter.

Before taking it outside, the children predicted what they thought the ants would eat. Then we took the ant food platter to the spot where the ants were crawling around. We took everything off the plate, except for the honey, and put the food in different spots around the ants.

After watching for a few minutes, the children realized that the ants weren't going to start eating right away, so they went off to do other things. Every few minutes someone would check on the ants to see if they had started eating yet. After about ten minutes one little ant found the apple slice.

Everyone was very excited! As we watched, the ants also found the goldfish and the honey.

We left the food out during nap time and came back to look at it in the afternoon. It turned it that once the ants found the honey, they forgot about the other food and all starting feasting on the delicious, sweet honey.

I printed out a picture of the food we had put out and typed up the predictions the children had made before the activity, and hung both in the science center. I also wrote down the outcome of the experiment. The children kept coming to the center to "read" about the experiment. They were also very excited to show it to their parents later in the day.

 

This experiment made such an impression that the children started talking about it again first thing this morning. So I came up with this art project to go along with the science project.

I made paper cut-outs of the foods we gave to the ants and let the children glue them onto construction paper. Then I gave them black paint and showed them how to make fingerprint ants. It didn't matter that the pictures weren't exactly accurate. What is important is that the class was learning about the scientific process by making predictions, experimenting, and recording their findings!

Posted with Blogsy

Family Style Dining in Preschool: A How-To Guide

Transitioning to family style dining can be an intimidating task for many teachers. Its easy to imagine a free-for-all occurring when the children have direct access to the meal, or mounds of spilled food all over the floor. In order for family style dining to work, you have to be prepared and you will need lots of patience.

To begin, child-sized dishes and utensils are a must. If things are too big, the children will not be able to manipulate them. This will lead to lots of spilled food and both children and adults getting frustrated. Here are the bowls and serving utensils we are using now at Aspen Leaf Preschool. Everything is inexpensive (it's all form Ikea, actually). The silver pitchers are meant to be for frothing milk but they are the perfect size for preschoolers. Our serving bowls are food storage container minus the lids. They came in a pack of five and we usually use the middle-sized ones. The small serving utensils were in the children's section and are meant to be toys, but they are just perfect for serving food. They are even dishwasher safe!

 These are the dishes we use (they're also from Ikea).

I have the children help me put the food into the serving bowls. Usually I'll choose one or two children to help with this, and one or two others to set the table. At the beginning, I'll set a napkin at each seat and instruct the children to place one bowl or plate on top of each napkin.

Then one cup and one spoon or fork on each plate. Later, when they have gotten used to the process, they are able to set the dishes out without the napkins marking the spots.

We always wait for everyone to sit down before starting the meal. To pass the time while we wait for everyone to sit down, I ask the children to open their napkins and "set their places." A set place looks like the picture below.

Once everyone is at the table, we sing (about our hands):

 Open, shut them,
Open, shut them,
Give a little clap, clap, clap.
 Open, shut them,
Open, shut them,
Put them in your lap, lap, lap.
 
This helps to get everyone's attention, calm the children down, and let them know that the meal is about to start. Before passing the bowls around, I show the children how many of each food they should take. I do this by serving myself and narrating what I'm doing. For example I would take two scoops of cereal and say, "This is the cereal. I can take two scoops. One, two. Now I'm going to pass it."

If we are having toast or bagels, I will set out a bowl of jelly. The children take a scoop of jelly with the serving spoon and then spread it with their knives (whenever we use knives we talk about how to be careful with them. Even though they are only plastic, it is important for children to know how to be safe with them).

The hardest part about family style dining is allowing the children to pour their own drinks. Inevitably they are going to spill, and at the beginning they are going to spill every time. But practice makes perfect and after a week or so, everyone will being pouring pretty well. For the first couple of weeks, I will use two pitchers. One big and one small one. I'll fill the big one with milk or water and pour only little bits into the smaller pitcher at a time. The children then pour from the small one. This way they can pour all of it without over-flowing their cups.

Once they get used to pouring, I fill the small pitcher about half way and show them how to stop pouring before the cup over flows.The first time a child pours without spilling is a big deal and I always make sure to compliment him or her.

At the end of the meal, each child cleans up his or her own place. We have a nice big sink in the classroom for all the dirty dishes, while napkins and uneaten food are placed in the trash. Every day we talk about what goes in the trash and what goes in the sink. If you're not mindful, you'll end up losing all of your dishes to the garbage!

Make sure to always sit down with the class and demonstrate the kinds of behaviors you expect from them. In order for this to work, the teachers have to lead by example. So make sure to set a place for yourself! Once everyone gets used to family style dining, you will find that it is much easier than making plates for the children and serving them. It is also much more pleasant to sit at the table with the children and have a conversation than it is to stand over them refilling their plates and cups.

To read about the benefits of using family style dining, check out my earlier post Family Style Dining in Preschool: Why it's Important.

Family Style Dining in Preschool: Why It's Important

During the first few weeks of school, the children have been getting used to all of the new routines and expectations that are part of going to preschool. One of my favorite, and also one of the most important, routines we are establishing is family style dining.

What is Family Style Dining?

With family style dining, children are responsible for setting the table, helping to get snacks and meals ready, serving themselves at the table, and cleaning up when they are finished eating. At first this may seem like a lot to ask of preschool-aged children, but it is surprising how much young children are capable of and how much they enjoy being part of the entire meal experience. Of course the teachers are also there to help out and encourage whenever necessary.

The Benefits of Family Style Dining

When children participate in family stye dining, they learn:

- How to take turns as they pass the food around the table

-To share when they realize that everyone gets some of the food being served

-Table manners as they watch the teachers sitting properly, saying "please" and "thank you," passing the food, etc.

-Healthy eating habits when the teachers lead a discussion about the food they are eating

-Self-help skills as they take responsibility for their own food needs

-How to clean up after themselves

Family style dining also gives children the opportunity to practice important skills such as:

-Small motor skills when they scoop and pour

-Counting as they count out the appropriate number of crackers, apples, etc.

-One-to-one correspondence when they set the table 

-Conversation skills when everyone at the table talks about the food, what they did during the day, etc. 

When children participate in family style dining, they gain a sense of accomplishment as they realize that they can pour their own milk and scoop their own cereal. They gain self-confidence and become more independent when they are able to do these things on their own.

In my next blog post, I will explain and show how we do family style dining at Aspen Leaf Preschool.