Mealtime Strategies
"What's for dessert?"

"What's for dessert?"

I get this question a lot. And by 'a lot' I mean A.LOT. I sometimes think that my kids are hummingbirds, interested in subsisting on nothing but sugar. One Saturday morning my husband and I made the mistake of sleeping in, giving the kids permission to watch Finding Dory on Netflix. We came downstairs to find them eating chocolate chips for breakfast. Lesson learned. 

Just last week, after a beautifully prepared, home-cooked warm chicken salad and freshly baked bread the first thing I was asked when everyone sat down at the table was "What's for dessert?"

Read more
sensory bin, sensory play

The importance of (sensory) play

Children learn through exploration and play, and they are at their best with learning when they are able to engage their senses. Sensory play helps kids practice and develop cognitive, emotional, physical, creative, and language skill sets. Download your free PLAY idea printable now!

Read more
4 strategies to help kids listen to their hunger cues

4 strategies to help kids listen to their hunger cues

When babies are born they are extremely attuned to their internal signals of hunger and fullness. When they are hungry they know, and they will let you know too! They also know when they are full, and they stop eating. But when we take over doing this for our kids, there are negative unintended consequences. Here we describe 4 strategies to help you support your little ones to continue listening to their internal hunger and fullness cues.

Read more
Mindfulness in parenting

Mindfulness in parenting

What do you think about when you hear the term “mindfulness”? Do you think of practicing yoga? Maybe spending hours sitting on a pillow, on the floor, in the corner, meditating with your fingers clasped, chanting “OMMMMM”? Okay, so mindfulness has a reputation – but what does mindfulness mean?

The general definition of mindfulness is the nonjudgmental (this is a key word) awareness of the present moment. Mindfulness encourages us to experience life as it is happening, without fear, worrying, or anxiety about what will happen or what has already happened. It does not have to include long periods of meditation – it can be done in just a few minutes each day.

Read more
Parents = Healthy Eating + Physical Activity Role Models

Parents = Healthy Eating + Physical Activity Role Models

Over the past several decades, childhood obesity rates have risen dramatically, especially in economically disadvantaged communities. Children who carry excess weight face a number of health problems in childhood, and later as adults.

A number of factors have contributed to this health crisis, and it's going to take a number of approaches and lifestyle changes to help reverse the trend. Some of them require commitments from industry and politicians. But not all of them. Some of them require YOU.

Read more
Encouraging your kids to become willing {food} tasters

Encouraging your kids to become willing {food} tasters

As my kids have grown they have gone from willingly putting anything in their mouths (including crayons!) to being slightly more choosy, and I’ve watched even my most adventurous eater stop eating foods she once liked. Given that I also know that kids need multiple exposures to a food before they “like” it (or even willingly eat it), and that this number increases as children get older, I wanted to have strategies in place to promote + support the skill of tasting.

Read more
Make Your Baby's First Foods Count

Make Your Baby's First Foods Count

What you feed your baby when she starts eating solid foods matters, and new research out of the UK sheds more light on just how much it does. Following children over 8 years enrolled in The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, researchers at the Centre for Child and Adolescent Health at the University of Bristol identified a number of different dietary patterns at 6 and 15 months of age and examined their link with weight and IQ 8 years later.

Read more