Things I Like: Toddler Tongs
I've written before on how to get your kids to eat more vegetables, and I'm stopping in for another tip that works really well for us.
Do you serve your vegetables with adult-sized serving ware? And do you dish out your children's veggies for them, maybe even before they've come to the table?
If you do these things and your children are perfect angels and eat their veggies without a fight, then please disregard the rest of this post. You are blessed among (wo)men!
For the rest of us mortals, I have found that having a piece of serving ware that is just the right size for little hands adds some novelty and interest to mealtime. I have the vegetable on the table, and then it gets passed around, family-style, with the tongs (or as the girls call them, "tahns"). By giving them control, it helps inspire buy-in and cooperation.
As my favorite book on food management advises, parents are responsible for the what and the when with mealtimes, and children are responsible for the whether and how much. More gems from this brilliant woman here.
This works really well with salads, but it can also be applied to countless foods of your choosing.
We only have toddler-sized tongs, but I'm sure there are pint-sized serving ware of other varieties, too: forks, spoons, etc. I have never ordered from them before, but I like to refer to the Montessori Services website for inspiration: table setting and serving and many other food prep activities.
Santa is also thinking about putting a couple toddler-friendly food prep tools in the girls' stockings: crinkle cutter and knife and vegetable peeler set.
Do you have any favorite mealtime tips?
