Are you navigating school dinners with a picky eater? For some children time in the school dinner hall is the most challenging part of their school day. Try these tips to make school dinners less stressful and more successful for your child.
1. Involve Your Child
All children, including picky eaters, are more likely to eat something if they help choose and prepare it. If you are sending a packed lunch, let your child help choose what goes in their lunch box. If your child has school dinners, look at the menu with them ahead of time so they can choose their food from the school dinner options.
2. Think Outside the Lunch Box
When talking with your child about what food they would like in their packed lunch, try not to be confined by traditional lunch box foods. Depending on the foods your child regularly eats, they may find eating lunch at school easier if they bring a warm meal in a thermos, a traditional breakfast food, only picky bits, etc.
3. Easy to Open Packaging
Make sure your child can easily open their lunch box as well as the food containers and packaging inside their lunch box. Children have limited time in the school dinner hall and if they cannot easily access a food, they are unlikely to eat that food.
4. No Surprises
Eating under time pressure in a busy environment can be challenging for children, especially picky eaters. Don’t add to their school dinner challenges by introducing a new food. Instead, introduce new foods at home, and pack foods they are already confident eating in their lunch box.
5. Mix and Match
Encourage your child to have at least one school dinner a week. Look at the menu together and choose a food that they enjoy eating at home. Talk about the fact that the food may look different than the version they eat at home and may taste a little different because it was made at school; however, it still a food they know and enjoy.
This strategy can help many picky eaters expand their food repertoire; however, for children with more extreme feeding challenges, it may be too overwhelming to have a school dinner. If this is the case for your child, stick to packed lunches at school. With all picky eating, the goal is to reduce stress around food and mealtimes.
6. Peer Support
Does your child have a friend that is a positive influence on their eating? If so, see if you can coordinate one meal a week with that child’s parent. Many children feel more confident eating when they see other people they trust eating and enjoying the same food. Perhaps you can send food in for your child and their friend one day a week, or your child and their friend can choose the same school dinner one day a week.
7. Adjust Expectations
For children who find mealtimes at school particularly challenging, speak with your child’s school about making reasonable adjustments. For example,
- Can your child start eating 10 minutes early to avoid the school dinner rush?
- Is there a table that is out of the way, at which your child can sit if they prefer less noise and distractions when eating?
- Does your child need an additional snack time to make sure they eat enough food to get through school day?
- Is your child more comfortable eating with certain friends, and if so, can it be arranged to have at least one of these friends on the same lunch table?
When to Seek Help
If your child’s picky eating is impacting on their growth, nutrition or resulting in stressful mealtimes, seek support from a paediatric feeding therapist. If you feel unsure about the severity of your child’s picky eating, there are clear Red Flags that indicate specialist support is needed. We always recommend seeking help as soon as possible. Appropriate assessment and treatment can make a big difference in a child’s feeding journey.
If you have questions about feeding your child or feeding therapy with South Lakes Speech & Language Therapy, please get in touch. Follow us on Facebook for more speech, language and feeding tips and sign up for South Lakes Speech & Language Therapy’s newsletter if you would like new posts sent directly to your inbox.