With arguably the biggest eating holiday we have coming up this week, I’d love to offer a few deep thoughts:
> your child may never like green jello salad with cottage cheese
> your child may eventually like green jello salad with cottage cheese
> your child may eat way too much green jello salad with cottage cheese
…and any of these is OK, without worrying, counting bites, or forcing.
This is not to say that there isn’t a larger conversation to be had about how to approach food and eating or any concerns you have (I’m happy to chat!), but rather that this one–perhaps busy, noisy, off-routine–day will not (and doesn’t need to) solve them.
Your child might surprise you and eat next to nothing, or surprise you by trying something you’d never have expected because his cousins are doing it (happens all the time in the classroom).
It’s all part of the child’s development as an eater and of whole development.
Happy Almost-Thanksgiving!
(Photo: our family’s beautiful jello salad bowl…my Montessori-kid-now-19-year-old will make our favorite: raspberry, no cottage cheese.)
I’m Jessica Brown, and at Clementine, we offer Montessori parent-child classes for ages 0-3+.
We learn and chat about topics like this one and more, both in and out of the classroom. If you’re local to Libertyville/northern Lake County, IL and are interested in finding more about our community, I’d love to hear from you!