Mealtime manners
Filed Under Tips & Tricks | September 24, 2008
Are mealtimes all sunshine and light chez you? Does everyone tuck into the dishes you’ve lovingly prepared with gusto and appreciation? Do you have stimulating conversations about world events? Yeah, us neither. But we do have some ideas – from experts – for making mealtimes more fun for all.
We wanted to start by paraphrasing Ellyn Satter’s excellent edict on the division of responsibility around families and feeding. “You’re responsible for what, when and where your child eats. They’re responsible for how much they eat or if they eat at all.” If you’re happy with what, when and where you’re feeding your kids the rest is up to them. Sure you’ll still want to scream when junior “hates” the meal you’ve painstakingly prepared even though he hasn’t tried a bite, but if you’re happy with how you’ve set up mealtime and what you’re serving, than your job is done and you’re free to leave him to do – or not do – his with no cajoling, coaxing or “just try one bite” from you.
And we love Alyson Schafer’s ideas for making mealtimes more fun for all. She recommends that rather than insisting everyone stay at the table for the whole meal, which is bound to lead to power struggles, instead make mealtime fun enough that your kids either won’t want to leave or will get drawn back to the table by the witty banter and amusing anecdotes and bon mots being traded over appies. Okay, again, not quite, but she suggests asking questions like “What is your favourite book? Why does it have personal meaning for you?”, “What’s the silliest thing you’ve ever done?” and “Do you like your name? If not what would you pick instead?” rather than questions like “What did you do at school today?” or “Have you done your homework?”
Finally the rules of engagement Emma Waverman and Eshun Mott set out in Whining & Dining make a great framework for mealtime. They suggest each family make their own rules for family meals and review them before mealtime. Their ideas for rules start with “No saying “yuck” or making other disparaging remarks about the food. If you don’t like it, don’t eat it.” And end with “No toys at the table and no fighting.”
Bon Appetit!
Further Resources for Parents:
- Secrets to Feeding a Healthy Family by Ellyn Satter
- Alyson Schafer’s Principles, Rules & Tools for Parenting: www.alyson.ca, and her great book Breaking the Good Mom Myth
- Whining & Dining by Emma Waverman & Eshun Mott. For a few fall-friendly sample recipes from Whining & Dining see below
Garlic-Roasted Carrots
Simple, quick and delicious, these were a big hit with our testers. You just have to get the kids to try these once and it will be a side dish for life. And if not, more for you.
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 lb carrots, peeled and cut on an angle into 1-inch pieces
2 cloves garlic, sliced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Melt butter in a small pot over medium heat. Add carrots and garlic; cover pot and turn down heat to medium-low. Cook, shaking pot occasionally, for 15 minutes or until carrots are tender and both carrots and garlic are slightly caramelized. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Makes 4 servings.
Meat Loaf
Maybe you think of meat loaf as an unhealthy meal from the ’50s. We think of it as an opportunity to hide nutritious food in a kid-friendly hamburger-type substance. There are oatmeal, carrots, parsnips and spinach in there, or you can choose to leave all the veggies out, or put one or two more in. If your kids are hamburger fans but the words meat loaf scare them, then you know what to do.
1 lb lean ground beef
1⁄2 lb ground pork
1 cup chopped onion
1⁄2 cup grated carrot or parsnip
1⁄2 cup chopped spinach
1⁄2 cup large-flake oatmeal (not instant)
3 tbsp milk
1⁄2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 egg
1⁄4 cup ketchup
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1⁄4 tsp hot pepper sauce
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tsp brown sugar
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Combine beef, pork, onions, carrot or parsnip, spinach, oatmeal, milk, thyme and egg in a large bowl.
Mix together ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce and hot pepper sauce in a small bowl. Reserve half the sauce. Pour the other half over the meat mixture and stir gently to combine ingredients. Season meat mixture with salt and pepper to taste.
Add brown sugar to reserved sauce. Pack meat into 5- x 9-inch loaf pan and smooth top.
Bake for 30 minutes then remove meat loaf from oven. Using a knife, make 3 slits in top. Pour remaining sauce over top so that it runs into slits.
Bake for another 30 minutes. Turn on the broiler and broil for an additional 5 minutes. Pour off any fat, then carefully remove meat loaf from pan and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
Excerpted from Whining and Dining by Eshun Mott and Emma Waverman Copyright © 2007 by Eshun Mott and Emma Waverman. Excerpted by permission of Random House Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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