Family-Style Dining

03/12/2013

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
Albert Einstein

In the Exchange Turn-Key Training videos, "Preventing Obesity and Promoting Wellness in Early Childhood Settings," one of the 14 lessons talks about utilizing "family-style dining " as a way to promote healthy eating habits. Here are some tips from that lesson:

Have children set the table before the meal and clean up after the meal is over.
Teachers should sit with the children as they are eating.
Teachers should allow the children to pour and serve their own food. Young children can serve themselves, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be spills. Young children need to be able to make mistakes as they improve their skills. Help “hand-over-hand,” if necessary, as they learn to serve themselves.
Have enough food and serving bowls so that all tables can be served at once.
There will be contamination as children learn to distinguish between food on their plate and food in the serving bowl. Have extra food ready for when this happens, so you can change out the contaminated bowl.

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