My Courses – Melanie Potock

Jun 5

Nope! Try serving a small portion of fruit right alongside the meal. WHY?🤔
(First, follow @mymunchbug_melaniepotock for daily tips like this!)

👉🏻Because parents decide what’s available, and children decide whether to eat it and how much.❤️ That means it’s perfectly okay to put a reasonable portion of fruit on the plate and let your child enjoy it.

🤦🏼‍♀️”But what if they eat all the fruit first and ask for more?”
That’s where your job as the parent comes in.

You might simply say:
💬 “The fruit is all gone for now.”
💬 “I’ll bring fruit to the park for snack.”
💬 “For lunch, we have these foods.” (point to the plate)
👉🏻👉🏻Then repeat it once more if needed. After that, it’s okay to stop explaining.
Your child heard you.

When we repeat ourselves over and over, we often end up inviting a debate rather than holding a boundary. Calmly repeating the same message once or twice helps children learn that the answer isn’t changing, while keeping mealtimes more peaceful for everyone.
Just calm, confident boundaries.

🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️”But what if they refuse to eat the rest of the meal? “ They will be ok, but they will be hungry again, and soon. That’s the hard part – but try to distract them until the next eating opportunity, and no, I would not offer fruit then.

Children don’t need unlimited access to a favorite food, even one as nutritious as fruit. They need loving structure around food and mealtimes.

In 25+ years of feeding therapy, I’ve found that clear boundaries and low pressure often work better than trying to control the order in which children eat their food. Our job is to decide what, when, and where food is served. Our child’s job is to decide whether to eat and how much.(📖Satter DOR)

🥰 Melanie

Disclaimer: This may not be the best strategy for extreme picky eaters. They need a safe food, if their repertoire is very limited. That’s a whole other situation!
Fruit for kids / responsive feeding / toddler meals / picky eating help / feeding therapy / family meals / parenting boundaries / child nutrition / raising adventurous eaters ...

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Jun 5

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🍪 What if dessert wasn’t the prize for eating dinner?

Most of us were raised hearing things like:
“Eat your vegetables first.”🥦
“You can have dessert if you behave.”😳
“Finish your dinner, then you get a treat.”

❤️And while those messages were given with the best intentions, they can accidentally teach children that dessert is more valuable, more exciting, and more desirable than every other food on the table.

Over time, kids may begin to worship dessert.
👉🏻They rush through meals to get it.
👉🏻They negotiate for it.
👉🏻They think about it the entire time they’re eating.

One strategy that can help reduce the power struggle is to occasionally serve a small portion of dessert with the meal.
❌Not every day.
❌Not at every meal.
Just often enough that dessert stops feeling like the grand prize at the end of a competition.

When a child learns that a cookie, brownie bite, or small piece of cake is simply one of many foods available, it often becomes less emotionally charged.

👉🏻The goal isn’t to eliminate dessert.
👉🏻The goal is to help children learn that all foods can fit, and that no single food needs to sit on a pedestal.

In 25+ years of feeding therapy, I’ve found that children often become more relaxed around sweets when we stop making them feel so special.Feeding is a developmental process, and helping children build a healthy relationship with food is just as important as helping them eat their vegetables.
🥰 Melanie

🛟Save this for later & share it with a parent who grew up earning dessert after dinner.
Dessert with dinner / responsive feeding / picky eating / feeding therapy / toddler meals / preschool meals / family meals / raising adventurous eaters / food relationship / child feeding expert ...

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Jun 4

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🧀 National Cheese Day & one of my favorite toddler snacks but safety counts too! Did you know that string cheese is actually designed to be pulled into strings?

When serving string cheese to toddlers and preschoolers, I recommend pulling it into thin strands rather than serving the whole stick.

⚠️ Avoid cutting string cheese into coin-shaped rounds. Those round pieces can create a choking hazard because they may block a child’s airway.

Instead:
✔️ Pull it into strings
✔️ Tear it into small pieces
✔️ Continue modifying it this way through about age 4

Why do I love cheese for kids?
🧀 It contains protein to support growth and help keep little tummies satisfied.
🧀 It provides calcium, which helps build strong bones and teeth.
🧀 It comes in many shapes, flavors, and textures, making it a wonderful food for helping children explore variety.

In 25+ years of feeding therapy, I’ve learned that small food-preparation changes can make a big difference in both safety and confidence at the table.
Offer safe foods in safe ways, and let your child build skills one bite at a time.

🥰 Melanie
National Cheese Day / string cheese / toddler snacks / choking prevention / feeding therapy / preschool snacks / child safety / protein for kids / calcium for kids / adventurous eaters ...

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