Most parents are happy to give their children the food they want.  What happens when the children want the same “favourite” food all the time? In the Big Mouth Book survey of over 200 parents, almost 50% said their child is focused on only a few favourite foods.

Gnadenfrei Foundation for Trauma & Abuse Ltd recently told us that young brains need specific vitamins and minerals at certain times and the only way to guarantee this is to eat a variety of foods everyday. 

Try giving less appealing foods some funny names. This week we made up Seafood Chewing Gum (Calamari). Others that we like to use include little trees (broccoli), rocket-ships (carrot), raw popcorn (corn kernels) and slippery soccers (peas).

Big Mouth Book Tips

Tip 1 - Ensure your child is seated at a table, away from distractions like the television.

Some say that this is our most obvious of tips, but for us, it is all about the set up.  Children need an environment free of distractions in order to focus on their meal.  We believe Big Mouth Book works for three key reasons:

1 ATTENTION - the child is receiving the full attention of the parent and both are focused on the meal.

2 CONTROL - The child indicates when they are finished their mouthful and then gets to ask to see the next hungry animal.

3 FUN - Most of the drama and tension from the “I won’t eat it” stand-off is removed when the fun of an animal countdown is introduced.

We found the exception to be when the child is too tired to eat, in this instance, there was no more food or milk, and early night was needed then we started again the next day.   For us, television dinners haven’t disappeared all together, we just make it a treat when we are eating a meal we know they will love.