The ‘grab-and-go’ approach to eating

This is the second in a series of articles where I invite you to interrogate how you relate to food and what that might mean for your child.

Last week, I explored what it means to be a food-lover, parenting a food-anxious child. This week, I want to look at another pattern of eating – food on the fly.

 

The ‘grab-and-go’ approach to eating

According to a market research survey of international snacking habits, almost half of participants said that they sometimes snack instead of eating meals. Another survey found that just over half of UK adults rarely eat three meals per day.

I suspect parents may be the worst contenders – we are often balancing work and childcare, we’re always on the move, heading from school pick-up to football practice. We’re shopping, cooking and cleaning while doing a quick stint as nurse, life-coach and chief costume designer, as the situation requires.

It’s hard to make time for eating in the midst if all of this. But more importantly, when we’re thinking of everyone else’s needs, our own can get somewhat sidelined.

Have you ever made your child breakfast, sent them off with a carefully planned packed lunch and then looked up at 3pm, mid way through a busy day at work, only to realise you are REALLY hungry and haven’t eaten all day? Or is that just me…?

We eat on the move. We snatch something on the way out of the house or we nibble as we prepare the children’s food instead of sitting down to a meal with them.

 

Possible outcomes

If you can relate to this description of modern day grab and go eating, let’s explore what this might mean for your child.

If you’re not eating with them, they are missing out on an opportunity for a family meal – check out the awesome site The Family Dinner Project to read about why this matters.

One of the most powerful influences over children’s eating, is how the adults around them eat. If you are not modelling positive eating habits, you’re missing out on an important opportunity to teach these to your child – not through what you say, but what you do.

 

When you’re dealing with picky eating

If your child is a picky eater, mealtimes may have become negative and fraught. Maybe your child doesn’t eat at the table and family meals seem to have dissolved into the ether. If you don’t want to eat the few foods your child accepts, it’s easy to understand why you may just make food for them and ‘sort yourself out later’.

 

Ways Forward

First off, analyse how and when you eat. Keep a food journal for a few days. Record your meals and snacks very honestly, and you may be surprised about what you discover.

Think about what is driving your current eating patterns and habits. I talk about understanding root cause in relation to children’s eating but it applies to us too!

Start small. Rather than trying to radically alter how you eat, address it one step at a time. Plan in minor and realistic changes. Baby step your way to the relationship with food you would ideally like to have.

I like to practice what I preach, so my baby step will be trying to eat breakfast every day, ideally with my kids! Right now, I’m a ‘coffee and go’ kind of girl, to be totally honest.

Wish me luck, and I’d love to hear about your baby steps too.