food

No summer is complete without at least a couple of picnics outside but sometimes it’s difficult to think what to include. I had to give the matter a lot of thought last year for the book I was asked to write - Happy Mealtimes For Kids. Here are a few suggestions, some old favourites and some new. I hope you find them useful.

Food is essential for life and therefore part of our nurturing and love. If a child rejects the food we have lovingly prepared then it is easy to feel they are rejecting us. Many of the children I’ve fostered have come to me with some form of ‘eating disorder’: refusing to eat, eating the smallest of amounts, eating only sweet foods, or gorging or binging until they are physically sick. Based on training, research for my book Happy Mealtimes For Kids, and over 25 years of fostering experience, I’ve put together some guidelines that can help achieve healthy eating.

“We are what we eat”. That is to say, the food we eat is absorbed by our bodies and therefore becomes part of us. But it is not only our bodies and our physical health that is affected by what we eat, but also our brains and central nervous system. While researching my book Happy Mealtimes For Kids, I learnt a lot. I thought I might share some of this with you.