Family Meals

By Brooke Heinz, Speech-Language Pathologist | Full-time Snack Dispenser

As a speech-language pathologist, I know certain activities/routines are amazing for language development. However, as a mom, some of these “ideal” activities are flat out stress-inducing.

Family meals are amazing for language development and building feeding skills. It provides an ideal environment for talking about a shared experience. You can model vocabulary (spoon, strawberry, more!) and provide natural opportunities to request, comment, and ask questions. If there’s another adult or an older child present, you can have a conversation and younger kids get exposed to incidental language (a fancy term for eavesdropping–which is so good for kids’ early language development). Not to mention all the practice eating, which kids need. As a speech-language pathologist, I love family meals. As a mom, they are the most stressful part of my day.

I should clarify. It’s more the preparation leading up to dinner that leaves me feeling like I just ran a 5k. The clean up afterwards adds to the exhaustion. My kids get clingy when they are hungry. I usually have one, sometimes both, demanding to be held while I’m straining pasta or seasoning chicken. This was fine when my kids could still fit in a baby carrier (when they tolerated it)–it’s a whole other story now that they are approaching two and four.

There’s a myriad of things I have done to make this ritual a little less stressful. Things like:

giving my kids snacks when it’s getting too late
simplifying meals
using a toddler tower and trying to get my kids involved in cooking
occasionally turning on shows

Even with these in place, sometimes I still end up sweating as I set the table, get drinks, and frantically blow on hot food to pacify my little gremlins.

I’m usually able to enjoy the 15-minutes or so that myself and my kids are eating. Then, my daughter will invariably want to nurse post meal. My three-year-old will want to sit in my lap while he finishes his dinner. I will pile the kids in my lap and glance longingly at my unfinished meal. Once the kids have their cuddle meters filled, we usually transition to playing outside. I try to ignore my kitchen–which now looks like a bomb went off.

How do you make dinner preparation less chaotic? Let me know in the comments below!