This little beauty ate at my house this weekend. Her mama was curious to see if she would touch the sandwich made from @daveskillerbread, @eatnuttzo and smashed raspberries {cut out into a large gingerbread man shape}, along with cutie wedges and green beans topped with butter. She was definitely hesitant at first, but there was no begging, no bribing, no "one polite bite." She ate an entire sandwich and asked for more, plus had more than one whole cutie and a few bites of green beans. Her mom was shocked. How did we do this? We all sat down together and made it lighthearted. I ate with them. Even though the sandwich and beans were a new food in how they were presented, she was familiar with the cuties, which is key since eating begets eating - so have one familiar food on every plate. I challenged the 2 preschoolers present to see what would happen if they bit off the "man's arm" {remember, the sandwiches were shaped like a gingerbread man}. What would the arm do swimming around their belly? They thought this was grand fun and wanted to know what would happen when they ate the neck, the belly, the feet, etc. Both toddlers {ages 3 and 4} were having so much fun and were taking bites on their own volition - no "if you eat this you get dessert/more cuties/whatever" - but since we were meeting their developmental need to play and explore, they were interested in the food. We did similar play- and exploration- based activity for the green beans. This is just a teeny taste of what we talk about in our online Feeding Littles: Toddlers course. It's a game changer, people. You're setting up habits for life - start 'em off right! #toddler #pickyeater #healthyeater #healthykid #preschooler #sandwich #feedinglittleslunches
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#sandwich,#feedinglittleslunches,#pickyeater,#healthyeater,#preschooler,#toddler,#healthykid,