Shop by Topic
Shop by Product
ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues
<< Previous Issue
| View Past Issues | | Next Issue >> 
At the Dinner Table
July 10, 2007
Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.
-John Muir
-John Muir
"For starters, the notion that children are a separate species who require a different diet from the rest of us, pretty much does away with the concept of the family meal. The point of eating together, it seems to me, is not just that we all sit down around the same table but also that we share the food. The same food.
"Children study their parents — that is their primary job in life — and one of the things they absorb is the way grown-ups eat. 'Oh look, Mommy loves salad and Daddy thinks spaghetti a la bolognese is swell,' is one lesson learned at the family table. The message is that these are delicious and desirable foods, and the obvious conclusion is, 'I'll probably like them, too.' But if little Suzy and Sam get applesauce instead of salad and naked pasta in place of meat sauce, the lesson is quite different. What we are really telling our children is 'You won't like what we are eating.'
"And yet we know that what children like is mostly learned. Japanese children are not born thinking rice, fish, and seaweed are breakfast any more than American children are born with an innate preference for cereal. We tell them what they like, even if we don't say it in words....
"Sitting down to dinner, at any age, should be an invitation to the fabulous banquet that is life. The most important lesson we learn at the table is that great rewards await those who take chances. Do we really want to be telling our children, 'Just eat your nice chicken nuggets'? It would make so much more sense to say, 'Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.'"
Jim Greenman's popular book, Caring Spaces, Learning Places: Children's Environments that Work, offers a comprehensive menu of ideas, theories, strategies, and success stories for creating wonderful environments for children. This week, Caring Spaces is on sale at a 20% discount!
ExchangeEveryDay
Delivered five days a week containing news, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.
What is ExchangeEveryDay?
ExchangeEveryDay is the official electronic newsletter for Exchange Press. It is delivered five days a week containing news stories, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.
New PlayDesigns Fun Centers by Playword Systems®.
Keeping little bodies and minds going a gazillion miles an hour.
Keeping little bodies and minds going a gazillion miles an hour.
Comments (12)
Displaying 5 of 12 Comments [ View all ]Discovery Children's Centre Inc.
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
The article reminded me of this quote from a wonderful Canadian educator, Mary Gordon the Founder of the "Roots of Empathy" program. It goes like this "The kitchen tables of the country are our real universities and whether it is cod fish or curry that is in the pot, it is our future that is brewing."
I'd like to second her notion and add that whatever it is that we are eating, let's eat it together.
United States
She obviously hasn't raised the kids I have raised, or worked with in my many years as a family child care provider.
Nor did she meet me as a kid! Or any of my 10 siblings! Many kids have very simple tastes, and need the plain pasta. That doesn't mean that they won't grow up to be experimental eaters. I certainly have! And I can still remember that inedible slime of a mushroom. It is a visceral memory.
There is a huge difference between simple parts of a delicous meal and nuggets! Nuance, nuance, nuance!
Reminds me of the time I sat down to a Kenyan dinner made by some Kenyan friends of my sister. It was ugali, a white starchy food, stewed chicken and some spicy green vegetables. It was delicious and I asked (thinking is this picky eating culturally bound) if Kenyan kids eat the greens. The men burst out laughing and said, "No, they eat the ugali!"
So have some patience with the little ones please! They aren't a different species, just a young version of ours. And have patience and less judgement of their parents who try so hard to get them eating well balanced meals. Don't lump together the picky eaters with the nuggets crowd!
Southern CA Association for the Education of Young Children
Chatsworth, CA, United States
I love this article. As a nutritionist, an early childhood educator, and a grandmother, I say yes! yes! yes! Variety is the spice of life and we owe it to our children to introduce them to the wonderful foods that are available to us.
We need to help young parents realize what a special privilege it is to sit down together at the family table.
Christ Church Episcopal Preschool
Lake Oswego, Oregon, United States
I completely agree. The family dinner table is where children get to experience different tastes. They may not like it the first time but some tastes need time. Also, even more importantly this is the place we learn social graces and "manners".
United States
I thought that this was a fine article and echoes what I have thought and said for many years. Children need to be exposed to and try a variety of foods. The dinner table is the perfect place to do this. I do not believe in parents making separate foods for their children and that in making separate foods for them you are creating children that will eat only certain foods. They will not be risk-takers who will be willing to try new foods, and thus, celebrate the rich textures and tastes of foods. If you truly want dinner to be a family time, then the sharing of (the same) food is desirable. Thanks, for the article!
Post a Comment