What is Family-Style Dining?
Family style dining is a meal at the table in which everyone serves themselves. Mealtime and bedtime used to be the most stressful activities in our household. We started eating our meals family style. As a result, we waste less food, the children learned portion control, and our picky eater problems were eliminated.
We Waste Less Food
When someone makes a plate for me, I either feel forced to eat everything or I waste food. Preparing plates for our children has a similar effect. We have three children with varying palates, and this is most apparent when we dine together. When children have control over their portions, they are more likely to finish the food on their plate and we waste less food.
The Children Learned Portion Control
Family-style dining fosters independence and allows parents to give guidance on healthy choices and portion control. Our nine and ten-year-old are interested in learning about protein, fiber, and the nutritional value of their food. This interest started with family-style dining. With practice, they have learned portion control.
Our Picky Eater Problem Was Eliminated
Our ten-year-old used to dread meals until we started serving meals family style. The list of foods she tolerated was limited, which made every meal stressful for everyone. We worked with her daycare providers for years to find a resolution because she displayed the same behavior in their care. Seeing all of the options in front of her and having control over her portions helped transform our dining experience.
Tips to Help Your Picky Eater:
Let them help you prepare some of the meal. When children help, they are more likely to eat their food.
Don’t get frustrated or frustrate your child: Making your child emotional or getting emotional will add another difficulty to the already stressful situation.
Mix it up: Incorporate some of their favorite ingredients or dishes into your meal. This will help introduce new items with the familiarity of dishes they enjoy.
This is truly helpful. As a means to get dinner on plates as quickly as possible and eliminate “extra” dishes I generally plate all meals from pot to plate for all. I do notice at times this causes some amount of wastefulness as what I think they should eat does not align with what they actually do. Thank you for the tips. I will try this to make a better dining experience for us all.