Navigating Picky Eating at Holiday Meals
The Holidays can be a stressful time especially for families of children with picky eating challenges. Here are some tips to help your family gatherings go more smoothly this season!
Make time to talk about your child's eating challenges before a family event or gathering to reduce unhelpful comments and added stress. Check out “SOS Approaches Top Ten Myths of Mealtime in America” for a great explanation of common misconceptions about food/eating and give this to family ahead of time if you think it would be beneficial.
Keep It Simple
Explain to your family/friends that this is a challenge your child is working on
Use examples to provide insight to how foods are perceived by your child ie. a strawberry might feel like a threat to your child and be associated with fear / anxiety vs. enjoyment
Set Expectations
Talk about your mealtime routine and what is helpful to your child
Focus on being together rather than talking about what's on their plate to reduce pressure
Make sure there is at least one food that is preferred available for your child even if it's not part of the "typical" menu
Manage Your Own Expectations
A perfect family gathering does not exist. Embrace where your child is at right now and think about one or two things you'd like to get out of the holidays - a memory, an idea, a family experience, and work on achieving that!
We understand how struggles with eating can impact your entire family. Try and lay the groundwork ahead of the gathering so that you can enjoy the event and have ideas of how to handle situations as they arise!
Feeding therapy can help decrease your child's anxiety about trying new foods, expand the foods they accept, and reduce family stress. Please reach out to us about your child's limited diet. We have an SOS trained feeding therapist that is ready to help!
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