Mealtime Practices in Childcare

Developed by Emily Seferovich

Objectives

Objective #1: Participants will be able to identify the benefits of creating a positive mealtime environment in child care

Objective #2: Participants will be able to define primary features of a positive mealtime environment

Objective #3: Participants will begin developing a plan for improving the mealtime environment of a child care program.

Mealtime experiences are defined as much by the conditions meals are eaten in

as the food itself.

A few of the many benefits of Positive Mealtime Environments

Children learn eating skills and dining manners largely between 3-6 years of age. Young children benefit from using various utensils and interacting with companions to help establish these skills.

Attentive caregivers can help children identify their level of satiety, which promotes the development of self-regulatory skills.

Caregivers can promote the development of food-oriented vocabulary, which can help children to better communicate their wants and needs in a variety of settings.

Allowing children to choose the foods that they do and do not want to eat in a family-style setting helps to reduce the development of picky eating habits.

If health-supportive foods are served and personal choice is encouraged, children will learn about healthy eating behaviors.

Ways to createPositive Mealtime Environments

Provide health-supportive, seasonal foods that adhere to the CACFP guidelines

Promote individual choice and avoid controlling feeding practices

Provide variety in food offered, optimally in a family-style meal setting

Verbally prompt children to identify their physical feelings of hunger or satiety

Accept if a child is full before finishing their plate

Encourage children to experiment with a variety of foods, mostly novel forms of produce

Model consumption of new foods by having caregivers try them alongside the children

Encourage portion control by providing a finite amount of food to all children in the first serving

Sit with the children to encourage positive conversation and interaction

Sit with the children to model healthy eating practices

If asked for multiple portions, prompt the children to identify with physical feelings, and provide foods that are more filling and nutrient dense (i.e. fruits/vegetables before starches such as bread or potato)

The format in which Food is Served makes a BIG difference

How do you serve food at your center?

Pre-plated meals?

Cafeteria Style?

Family Style?

Other?

Family Style meal are considered the best practice in child care because children are given the greatest amount of choice over what they eat

The Value of ChoiceAllowing children to develop autonomy and a unique nutritional identity is one of the many benefits of

Family Style meals. Similarly, the way we communicate with children is also instrumental in embodying that same choice-centered approach

Ask yourself which of the following statements you find more appropriate:

Example 1

1: “Yum! The yogurt and berries look like they taste sweet. Would you like to try some?”

2: “Even if you don’t want to eat it, I need you to take a bite.”

Example 2

1: “When we run out of bread, if you’re still hungry you can try some green beans and fruit.”

2: “Eat your green beans and fruit now. You’ve had enough bread already.”

Example 3

1: “Would you like to have carrots and dip or cheese and apple slices?

2: “You’ve not touched your salad, and you need to try some.”

The BMER Resource

Building Mealtime Environments and Relationship (BMER) is a resource developed by childhood nutrition experts to help caregivers evaluate and augment current programs in place to create positive, health-supportive mealtime environments

BMER consists of the following 12 unique rubrics that correlate to mealtime practice topic areas:

1)Equipment, 2) Mealtime Environment, 3) Sanitation at the Table, 4) The Food, 5) Preventing Choking, 6) Food Intake, 7) Social and Emotional Development, 8) Mealtime Motor Skills, 9) Conversations (Listening and Speaking Skills), 10) Routines and Schedules, 11) Adult Practices at Mealtime, and 12) Community Building

BMER is downloadable as a PDF and can be used to illustrate areas of strength and areas for improvement regarding the mealtime environment used at your facility.

Excerpt from BMER Resource

Excerpt from BMER Resource

Taking steps forward : A few key questions

What do you feel can be easily done in the present to support positive mealtime environments for your kids?

What do you feel should be done, but would be difficult to accomplish?

What are the barriers to making some of these shifts?

What could be done to overcome these barriers?

Open Discussion

Useful Resources:(Work Cited)

Building Mealtime Environments and Relationships (An Inventory for Feeding Young Children in Group Settings)

Mealtime Memo for Child Care (Memorable Mealtimes: Putting it all Together)

CACFP Menu Planning Guide**

Article Preventing Childhood Obesity: Strategies to Help Preschoolers Develop Healthy Eating Habits