Make the Most of Family Mealtime.

Eating meals together gives you a chance to help your child develop a healthy attitude
toward food. It also enables you to serve as a healthy eating role model, ensure that your
kids are eating nutritious foods, introduce your family to new foods, establish a regular
meal schedule and keep in touch with family members.
Here are some tips on making the most of family meals:
• Prepare healthy meals that the whole family eats instead of serving
special foods for an overweight child. This will create a positive and
supportive environment.

• Schedule meals at regular intervals. Without a schedule, kids tend
to snack more—and often reach for high-calorie foods.
• Meals tend to be healthier when planned, so try to plan menus a
week at a time. Keep a log of menus you’ve created so you can refer
to it in the future when you need ideas for a healthy meal that your
family likes.
• Space snacks at least one hour before a meal. Two to three snacks per
day are enough for most children. See page 9 for healthy snack ideas.
• Plan to eat at least one meal together every day. If it’s difficult to get
everyone together for dinner, how about breakfast? Try designating one
night a week as family dinner night.
• Eat meals and snacks in the kitchen or dining room. Avoid eating in
front of the computer or television.
Help your child understand when he or she is physically hungry and
when he or she is satisfied:
• Don’t overly restrict food. This can lead to preoccupation with food or
make your child feel punished or rejected. Any restrictive diet should be
under the guidance of a health care professional.
• Don’t use food to reward, comfort or punish your child.
• Don’t make your child eat everything on his or her plate.
• Encourage your child to eat slowly. It’s true for all of us: When we eat
too quickly, our body thinks it needs more food to be satisfied. How
can speedy eaters slow down? Here are some tips:
–Put the fork down between bites.
–Swallow one bite before taking another.
–If your child wants seconds, have him wait five minutes to
see if he’s still hungry. Make the second helping half the size
of the first.
–Eat the meal in courses. Start with low calorie foods (fruits,
vegetables, salads) and then move on to higher-calorie foods
(breads, pastas, meats).