I get this question all the time. What can we say when grandparents pressure our kids to eat just one bite! If you can, prep your parents to keep Thanksgiving dinner pressure free. Explain to them that you’d like today to be fun for everyone and ask for their help. Grandparents love to help! Say […]
Navigating Thanksgiving With a Picky Eater Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days and it’s meant to feel cozy and connected—but for the families I work with, it can also feel stressful. A parent recently told me that she’s “dreading” the day. New foods, big crowds, and pressure from well-meaning relatives (hello grandma!) can turn […]
From time to time I like to remind us of my favorite snacking trick: “Buddying Up” your snack. I tell kiddos all the time: “No lonely snacks!” By that I mean, pair your snack with another food from a different food group. For example, I just ate an apple with peanut butter (fruit + protein/fat). […]
I love to read And I loved to share books with my kids when they were little. Nothing beats snuggling up with your little one and a favorite story. Some of our favorites were Bunny Cakes by Rosemary Wells, Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss, Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban and […]
This was a question posed to me by a mom who understood that encouraging her tween to eat “healthy foods” wasn’t getting her kiddo to eat those “healthy foods” and was actually causing friction between them. Her question is a reasonable one. The Division of Responsibility in feeding (DoR) outlines the feeding relationship between parents/caregivers […]
This is what my oldest son yelled at me one year. I can’t quite remember how old my kids were when my oldest son yelled “You ruin Halloween–and that’s why nobody comes here!” Halloween is right up there with Christmas and Birthdays at my house. Actually, Halloween probably ranked highest. My oldest kiddo is creative […]
Gather, formerly known as the Seacoast Family Food Pantry, is so much more than a place to get food When I established my private practice 12 years ago, I decided that it was important for me to be involved in some way in the Seacoast Community. As a food & nutrition expert, it made sense […]
Everything Goes with Everything (Yes, Even Those Things Your Kid Mixed Together) One of the biggest myths about food is that there are right and wrong combinations. Like peanut butter only belongs with jelly, pasta has to go with tomato sauce, or apples are meant for pie but not tacos. Unless Martha Stewart or Julia […]
If you’ve ever sat at the dinner table thinking, “Why won’t they just take one bite?”—you’re not alone. Feeding kids can feel like a daily test of patience, but one small mindset shift can make a huge difference: supporting vs. controlling. When we support our kids’ eating, we’re setting them up for success without turning […]
A Brief History of Nutrition Education The way we teach kids about nutrition has changed so much over the past few decades. When I was in fifth grade our teacher played a video from “Mulligan Stew” where the kids in the show sang “four, four, three, two, that’s the way for me and you“. My […]