Ep. 126: Getting Kids to the Table (Without the Chaos): Real-Life Tips for Easier Family Meals

Summary

Summary of "Ep. 126: Getting Kids to the Table (Without the Chaos): Real-Life Tips for Easier Family Meals"

Released on July 30, 2025, "Ep. 126: Getting Kids to the Table (Without the Chaos)" of The Pediatrician Next Door - Simple Advice on Baby Sleep, Parenting and Family Health delves into practical strategies for fostering harmonious family mealtime amidst the hustle and bustle of modern parenting. Hosted by Dr. Wendy Hunter, MD, and featuring guest Sarah Schlichter, a registered dietitian and the force behind the blog Bucket List Tummy, this episode offers invaluable insights into making family meals enjoyable and stress-free.

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1. The Importance of Family Meals

Dr. Wendy Hunter opens the discussion by emphasizing the critical role of family meals in children's development and overall well-being. She notes:

“We know that kids who have at least five meals together with their family every week have stronger language skills, better nutrition, improved emotional well-being, you name it.” ([01:50])

Despite recognizing their importance, Dr. Hunter acknowledges the common challenges parents face in coordinating schedules and managing picky eaters.

2. Effective Meal Preparation Strategies

Sarah Schlichter addresses the often daunting task of meal prep, debunking the myth that it requires exhaustive hours each week. She recommends a flexible approach:

“It doesn't have to be the four to five hours on a Sunday afternoon. You don't have to spend your whole day doing this.” ([04:51])

Key strategies include:

• Mental Meal Planning: Mentally mapping out meals for the week can significantly reduce daily stress. Knowing ahead which nights require quick meals due to activities or work can streamline decision-making.

• Batch Cooking Essentials: Preparing staple ingredients like ground beef, rotisserie chicken, or a large batch of rice can expedite meal assembly on busy days.

3. Involving Kids in Meal Preparation

Engaging children in the cooking process not only eases the workload but also fosters a sense of responsibility and interest in meals. Sarah suggests:

“You do have kids, even starting at age 2, you can get them to help you... You just have to involve them.” ([07:38])

Practical tips include:

• Age-Appropriate Tasks: Younger children can handle simple tasks like cutting soft fruits with kid-friendly knives or setting the table.

• Making It Fun: Turning meal prep into a game or competition can make the experience enjoyable. For example, Sarah shares how she turns tasks into fun challenges with her own children.

4. Time-Saving Tips for Busy Families

To alleviate the constant preoccupation with meal planning, Sarah recommends:

“Having your kids write things down because that way we all kind of know what to expect. So I don't have to come home and spend 20 minutes thinking about what to eat.” ([09:59])

Additional time-saving tips include:

• Stocking Up on Quick Ingredients: Keeping pantry staples like canned beans, frozen vegetables, and easy-to-cook grains ensures meals can be assembled swiftly.

• Utilizing Prepped Components: Preparing parts of meals in advance, such as cooking rice or chopping vegetables earlier in the day, can reduce evening meal prep time.

5. Embracing Frozen and Canned Foods

Addressing concerns about the nutritional value of frozen and canned foods, Sarah clarifies:

“Sometimes even more so because they're picked at the peak of ripeness and then they're flash frozen.” ([10:38])

She advocates for:

• No Guilt Using Convenience Foods: Emphasizing that canned and frozen vegetables are nutritious alternatives when fresh options are limited or time is constrained.

• Balanced Meal Assembly: Combining prepped ingredients with fresh herbs or other fresh components can maintain the freshness and appeal of meals.

6. Prioritizing Family Meals in Busy Schedules

Despite hectic lifestyles, prioritizing family meals is essential. Sarah offers creative solutions:

“It could be having a picnic at your son's soccer practice. It could be eating on your neighbor's deck.” ([12:25])

She highlights the flexibility in defining family time, suggesting:

• Alternative Dining Locations: Utilizing parks, living rooms, or even outdoor spaces at practices can provide opportunities for shared meals.

• Adapting to Modern Lifestyles: Incorporating technology, such as Facetiming grandparents during meals, extends family connections beyond the immediate household.

7. Making Meals Enjoyable and Managing Chaos

Transforming mealtime into a pleasant experience involves setting realistic expectations and incorporating fun elements. Sarah shares:

“Tonight we're inviting the princesses to come down for dinner. Would you wear your fanciest dress?” ([17:10])

Additional ideas include:

• Themed Dinners: Dressing up or having themed nights (e.g., pizza Fridays) can make meals more engaging for children.

• Interactive Elements: Pretending to be waitstaff or creating a playful atmosphere can reduce tension and encourage participation.

8. Understanding and Managing Picky Eaters

Sarah approaches picky eating with empathy and practical strategies:

“Let’s have some empathy about it. Because when we were kids, we probably, you know, weren't super excited to try every new food on our plate either.” ([18:22])

Her recommendations include:

• Repeated Exposure: Encouraging multiple exposures (20-30 times) to new foods without pressure can gradually increase acceptance.

• Interactive Taste Tests: Engaging children in taste tests and discussions about food preferences fosters curiosity and willingness to try new items.

9. Embracing Intuitive Eating

Advocating for an intuitive eating approach, Sarah emphasizes respecting children's natural hunger and fullness cues:

“Kids are born intuitive eaters. And by that I mean they haven’t been exposed to the outside diet culture.” ([20:59])

Key points include:

• Neutral Food Language: Treating all foods as equal without labeling them as "good" or "bad" removes pressure and fosters a healthy relationship with food.

• Autonomy in Eating: Allowing children to decide how much to eat empowers them to listen to their bodies and make mindful choices.

10. Division of Responsibility in Feeding

Introducing the Division of Responsibility framework, Sarah explains:

“The parents determine what food is offered, and they determine when it's offered and where.” ([23:08])

This approach encourages:

• Structured Offering: Parents control the meal environment and choices available, while children have the autonomy to decide what and how much to eat.

• Reduced Pressure: This framework minimizes conflicts over food by clearly delineating roles between parents and children.

11. Key Takeaways and Final Thoughts

Dr. Wendy Hunter and Sarah Schlichter conclude with actionable advice for parents striving to create enjoyable family meals:

• Start Small: Implement one change at a time, such as planning meals for a specific day or involving children in a single meal prep task.

• Foster Connection Over Perfection: Prioritize the bonding and routine aspects of mealtime over flawless execution. Even simple meals like cereal and baby carrots hold value.

• Stay Patient and Persistent: Building positive mealtime experiences takes time and consistency. Celebrate small victories and maintain a supportive environment.

Dr. Hunter wraps up the episode by acknowledging the shared struggles of parenting and encouraging listeners to embrace the journey:

“If dinner tonight is cereal and baby carrots, you're still doing great. I'm right there with you, doing the best I can for my family too.” ([Conclusion])

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Resources Mentioned:

• Sarah Schlichter’s Blog: Bucket List Tummy
• Sarah Schlichter’s Podcast: Managing Mealtime Madness
• Chef's Kit for Kids: Available on Sarah’s website

Connect with Dr. Wendy Hunter:

• Website: pediatriciannextdoorpodcast.com
• Email: [e-mail]

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This episode underscores that while orchestrating family meals amidst busy schedules can be challenging, adopting flexible strategies and fostering a positive mealtime environment can lead to healthier, happier families.

Transcript

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[Unknown]

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[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

I'm Dr. Wendy Hunter and I'm here to make parenting a little bit easier. I am so glad that you have found me. I am that trusted voice that can help you sort through all the crazy advice out there and I am so excited to share today's topic with you. It's something we need to talk about and it's one of the easiest changes you can make in your family to that will have a huge impact on your kids health and well being. And you're probably already doing it. Here it is. It's having family meals. I know you work so hard to get healthy food for your kids and to get everyone to eat together and it's not easy. But you know what, it's worth your effort. But I will admit getting dinner on the table is one of my biggest challenges. I. I mean I know from science research and from experience myself watching successful families and crazy families in my own clinic that family meals are one of the critical differences that helps with children's development and their overall health. We know that kids who have at least five meals together with their family every week have stronger language skills, better nutrition, improved emotional well being, you name it. Yet I find myself. And maybe you do too. I find myself racing home from work, negotiating everyone's schedules and then I'm always grateful that I don't even have a picky eater to deal with because that's a whole other issue and I'm always hopeful that everyone is going to actually sit down at the same time. I know I'm not alone in this. Well today I am thrilled to introduce you to my guest and she's someone who really gets it. She's full of practical solutions. My guest is registered dietitian Sarah Schlichter. She is the force behind the blog Bucket List Tummy and she's host of the podcast Managing Mealtime Madness. Sarah is a mother of three. She's a media nutrition expert. She develops recipes and has written family friendly meal guides. She has spent years translating the science of nutrition into strategies that you can use in your own busy family. From baby led weaning to school age snack ideas, she's got it all. Her podcast features tips and recipes from thoughtful conversations that help reduce mealtime stress. Maybe she is just what we all need to calm the chaos around meals. I'm Dr. Wendy Hunter and I'm the pediatrician next door. I'm that doctor friend you call for practical advice about your kids health. I mix the science of medicine with the reality of parenting. We all know that meal prep is the thing that saves time and helps us get meals on the table. It makes our day easier. And yet I have tried, I swear, but I just can't prepare vegetables or make rice the night before. Life changes too quickly when there is, you know, a last minute sports schedule change or a hiccup in our family schedule. I asked Sarah how families can think about meal prep in a way that actually works in real life without adding more stress. Here's where we started our conversation. I just want to start with just planning and preparing the meal because that's when my madness starts. So in terms of meal prep, that is a really important part of your approach. What are some simple prep routines that you recommend?

[Unknown]

Yes, and I think meal prep can take on so many different terms for different families and we might romanticize it a bit and envision it being like this quiet time where we're looking through cookbooks and planning recipes. And maybe that is the case for some of us before kids wake up. But for the most part, for me, that's not usually the case. It's kind of going through my mental block or recipe repertoire of things that we've eaten and enjoyed in the past and making them again or maybe making a little twist off of them. But I tell clients it doesn't have to be the four to five hours on a Sunday afternoon. You don't have to spend your whole day doing this. Even just mentally preparing the meals ahead of time can be so, so helpful. So if you're looking at your schedule for the week, it might look like, okay, Wednesday night soccer practice. Thursday I have a work meeting. We'll have to something quick. Just mentally knowing what you can do for each night, even if you don't have a specific recipe available, can even just reduce some of the stress that day of. So I recommend starting with that, especially for people new with meal prep and then really just figuring out where the biggest challenge is. Is it getting breakfast in the morning? Are you forgetting to eat before you head to work? Or is it too hectic with the kids before they get on the school bus or whatnot? So maybe a make ahead breakfast, like a baked oatmeal could be helpful. Some egg muffins or if it's dinner, which can be the challenge for many of us. You know, coming home from work and everyone's hungry and you're on the time crunch, there's homework, there's baths, there's activities. Just having some staples prepped, like maybe you cook some ground beef or you bought rotisserie chicken this week, and you know, you can pair that with like a big batch of rice. You could do that in a rice cooker, the instant pot, the stove, or you're just roasting a bunch of sweet potatoes and even throw a bag of frozen vegetables in the microwave. You can kind of get a meal together quickly if you have to. But I do feel like just putting some of that prep work done ahead of time. Put it on paper, just get it out of your head can be a really good start.

[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

I know you're right because I think a lot of people think of meal prep as the actual physical, like getting the meal prepped, but just that mental part of things of like, okay, what are we gonna eat or do? One of the things that I always tell all of my patients probably age 7 and up, is that they need to help out at home. And one of the things I tell them is really helpful is just tell your mom what you want for dinner that week. Because the mental load of like, what should we eat? Is so just mind crushing to me. So what are some of your best strategies for reducing stress when you're actually preparing the meal? Like actually doing the cutting and then getting everyone to the table too. That's such a challenge for me.

[Unknown]

Yes. And I think this can vary depending on the ages of the kids. But if you do have kids, I mean, even Starting at age 2, you can get them to help you. There's kid friendly knives. You can get a cutting board out and just have them. They're not very sharp, they're dull, but they can cut through. So if you have like strawberries, even if it's something you're not necessarily using for dinner. You can kind of keep them occupied in that way so you have a little bit more mental clarity to prep what you're doing. But I do have, I have a seven year old and an almost five year old and they're pretty active in the kitchen. If I ask who wants to do what, suddenly it becomes a fun competition and me, me, me. So I'm like, okay, you do this, you do this. So I will try to involve kids. So if you have older kids that could help you. For some families, they may be like, that's too messy, that'll be too stressful. Have them set the table or put water in water bottles or something, like just something that they can start to be involved in the dinner. Because like you just said, even asking them what's something that you want this week gives them some agency in the meal. So they will be more likely to try something or be more interested in it because they came up with it.

[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

And I can find it so lonely if I'm just in the kitchen cooking and my kids are like running around. I just really want them to be there with me doing something, even if they're just playing with Tupperware.

[Unknown]

Honestly, Yeah, I think that's kind of what I envision too. It's hard to envision the kids just entertaining themselves in another room. It's nice, but like, it is kind of chaotic in the throes of motherhood when you're preparing dinner. And it doesn't always have to be like a bad chaotic. It can just kind of be like, this is what we're living right now. But they're here, they're part of it. It's loud, it's messy. But I think to your point, like involving them, helping them, having them help prep, having them help clean up, and then things you can do earlier in the day to make that day of stress easier. So even sometimes I'll just put some rice in the instant pot and make them breakfast or do whatever I'm doing. That's just one component of the meal that's ready later and it's not something I have to worry about. So even if you're not doing all of the meal prep for the meal at one time, if you can do it in components little by little, it'll chip away at how much time you need to spend on the meal and hopefully can take some of that stress away too.

[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

I just feel like I spend so much of my day thinking about food and what everyone is going to be eating. That what are some of the time saving tips that you have?

[Unknown]

I like to have talking about involving the kids again, but I like to have them write things down because that way we all kind of know what to expect. So I don't have to come home and spend 20 minutes thinking about what to eat.

[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

That saves you time. Yeah, for sure.

[Unknown]

That saves you time. And then just having some of those key ingredients that are like quick meal starters can save time. So canned fruits and vegetables have a place. Frozen fruits and vegetables are great. We use frozen vegetables often. Even like quick cooking rice, rotisserie chicken, like I mentioned earlier.

[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

Well, getting to frozen vegetables, since you're a dietitian, you know this. But they are just as healthy as fresh. Is that true?

[Unknown]

It's true, yeah. Sometimes even more so because they're picked at the peak of ripeness and then they're flash frozen. So all of that nutrition stays in there versus when you go to the grocery store. You don't know how far that avocado has traveled or how long it's been sitting on the shelves there. So yeah, over time, the nutrition degrades in those situations.

[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

I love to use fresh herbs, but all kinds of canned and frozen veggies because it just really makes the meal feel fresh. But faster. A lot faster. Yeah.

[Unknown]

And I think we have to normalize that like families. I don't want people feeling guilty for using canned foods. I mean, they're budget friendly and in this economy we want our money to go further. So. And they are. They provide so much nutrition. And canned beans are another thing. We do a lot of like, no cook meals in our house with canned beans or frozen edamame. Again, that rotisserie chicken or tortillas. There's so much that you can just put together in short amounts of time where maybe you didn't have time to prep that week or mentally think about what's for dinner. Just knowing that your pantry is stocked with some items. And I always tell people, when you have time, just make a list. It can just be like 10 family recipes. Just things that when you're stressed and you're frantic and you can't think straight, you can go back to this list and know what to serve. It can be as simple as like a grilled cheese with sweet potatoes or a grilled cheese with like just green beans on the side. I mean, we don't have to be super fancy. The. The most important part is just sitting down together when you can and enjoying a family meal.

[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

That is a very, very good point. Family meals are as you know, crucially important to children's development. So how do you fit in family meals if you're a really busy family? And do you think it's important?

[Unknown]

I think it's so important. And I think trying to prioritize it, especially with kids, starting them at a young age, is so monumental and it will make a difference. I mean, I myself have such positive memories sitting down with my family growing up and for families now. I mean, we're busy. Kids have activities, we have work. It doesn't have to be just sitting down at the table in your kitchen. It could be having a picnic at your son's soccer practice. It could be eating on your neighbor's deck. It could be eating out at a restaurant or grabbing fast food. It's more so just the idea of being together, being able to talk. We have so much research showing that that helps with kids cognitive skills, their performance in school. There's less bullying, there's less sexual activity, there's less drug abuse. I mean, there's just. And then obviously better family dynamics and things like that. Yes. Huge proponent of family meals. And I think just looking, it can even be facetiming grandparents. I think we have to look beyond the nuclear let's sit at the table and eat together as a family. Because that's just not always possible in this day and age. But we can adapt.

[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

I love that idea of a picnic because we are on the go all the time. But if you can maybe visually and physically separate some family time, Even if it's 15 minutes on the soccer field to just sit and be together over food, that is brilliant. I want to pause on something Sarah said that caught my attention. Instead of trying to overhaul your whole kitchen routine, she suggests starting with just one thing. Look ahead at your family's weekly schedule and find the one or two days where meals tend to fall apart. Is your chaos hitting hardest at breakfast? Is it dinner time after a long day of work and school and sports and traffic? Once you know where the stress is for that specific week or for you in general, that's where you start. Next, she'll share tips for making mealtime a little less maddening. And we'll talk about what we refer to as selective eaters and the chaos that surrounds our family meals.

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[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

So we've talked about how to make meal prep a little easier. Now let's talk about the actual meal. You finally get everyone to the table, and then the toddler is sliding off their chair, someone's complaining about broccoli, and it just feels like chaos. I asked Sarah how we can make family meals more enjoyable and maybe even get our kids to want to stick around for more than three minutes. So family meals. I remember how hard they were when I had a toddler, and I think, like, literally every night, my daughter would end up in timeout at the dinner table. So what are some ways to, you know, make the family meal fun? And also, how do you deal with the fights and the chaos?

[Unknown]

Yes, I think some of it is just kind of going in with expectations of toddlers will act like toddlers, and they're really not going to sit probably for 20 minutes or whatever it might take us or how long we would like. But starting small, I've heard, like having a timer on the table so they can visually see it can be helpful because they don't really have an idea about time.

[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

Okay. Yeah.

[Unknown]

But as kids get older, some of the strategies we've done to kind of make it more fun is having them come to the table in a costume. Tonight we're inviting the princesses to come down for dinner. Would you wear your fanciest dress?

[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

That is genius.

[Unknown]

Yeah. Would you wear your fanciest dress and come join us? Or, you know, if they have Halloween costumes, sometimes we'll just have a picnic on the living room floor. Usually that's like a Friday pizza type thing. But again, that's still, you know, family meal. All of the benefits there or eating on the porch. Sometimes I'll pretend to be the waitress. So I will grab a pen and paper and say, these are our choices tonight. What would you like? And they just find that so entertaining and fun, so we kind of just roll with it. So I think some of it is like trying not to be too uptight yourself. And remembering food is more than just nutrition. Nutrition is very important, but it's memories, it's bonding, it's nostalgia and all of that, too.

[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

You've written about how understanding your picky eater can make mealtime easier. Can you explain that insight and share some things that could help parents?

[Unknown]

Yes. Yeah. So this is. This is such a common topic and challenge, and I get so many questions about it and I think first and foremost, let's have some empathy about it. Because when we were kids, we probably, you know, weren't super excited to try every new food on our plate either. And I do think picky kind of gets thrown around and maybe selective can be a kinder way to put it. But I think we don't wanna label our kids and we don't wanna write the story for them. So they may be going through picky or selective eater phases, which is developmentally normal, but it doesn't have to be something we hold against them. And I think a lot of parents just get very discouraged by this and maybe stop offering foods altogether because, well, they're not gonna eat it anyway. And. And I would encourage you to just keep trying it. I mean, sometimes I take up upwards of 20 to 30 exposures. And even if they won't try it, they're seeing it, maybe they'll touch it. Maybe, you know, you do something like we've done a taste test before, and I had raw carrots and cooked carrots and then circular carrots and shredded carrots. Which one tastes different? Which one do you like better? Do you like it crunchy? Do you like it soft? So sometimes just doing things like that and asking them questions and asking them to participate can be helpful because the goal isn't necessarily making them not be a picky eater. The goal is to just have them continue to become curious about the food because eventually if they're curious, they're going to try it. And even if they don't like it, they tried it. That is some trust that they can continue to build on. And if you keep serving it and they're watching you eating it, I mean, all of these exposures will continue to build upon themselves. So I would encourage parents not to get too discouraged about it, but keep serving it. Don't shy away from it, don't Just do the, you know, the typical chicken nuggets every night because they're not going to eat the pork loins that you're eating because you really, truly never know.

[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

That reminds me of the entire intuitive eating approach, which is a whole thing. And I actually have done an episode on it. And I know you were a former sports dietitian, I guess you still are. So you have incorporated intuitive eating into that realm as well. But apparently it can be helpful just introducing kids to foods as a toddler, just this whole intuitive eating approach. So what are some takeaways for parents to try that approach with kids?

[Unknown]

I'm a big believer in intuitive eating, and honestly, I hope in the future that it just is known as normal eating. And how many of us just become. Just learn to eat in that way? But for kids especially, it's something that we like to stress because kids are born intuitive eaters. And by that I mean they haven't been exposed to the outside diet culture. They don't know if carbs are bad or they don't know that they need to be keto. You know, all of this noise that we hear as adults, they just know, I'm hungry, it's time to eat. I'm going to cry. I. I'm going to act up. I'm going to try to get my mom's attention because I'm hungry, and when I'm full, I'm going to turn my head from the breast, I'm going to push the bottle away, or I'm just going to leave my plate. And those are cues that are very valuable, and we want to encourage those. So when we're talking about intuitive eating for kids, it is kind of giving them the option to figure those cues out on their own. So it's less of a, you need to eat your whole plate before you can have dessert. And it's more kind of putting all foods on an equal pedestal. So I like to kind of talk to when I'm talking about foods, I like to talk about neutrality. And rather than labeling foods as good or bad or again, doing that, you have to eat all your broccoli in order to get ice cream. By doing that, we're telling kids that, oh, ice cream is this reward and I have to do something to earn it. And they can start to internalize a lot of those feelings and that, you know, they may think they're bad if they eat a bad food or they're good if they eat a good food. So we try to just look at food neutrally and really have kids lead the way. Experiment, learn what it feels like to be really hungry, and then that's an opportunity for a lesson. And then learn what it feels like to eat too many sweets. That didn't feel very good. I'm sure your belly hurts. Maybe next time we can eat XYZ or have a meal first or fill in the blank. But letting them discover that on their own can be really powerful.

[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

That's incredible. Yeah, I love that plan. That reminds me, I saw on your podcast that you had an episode that was about the division of responsibility in feeding. Can you speak to that? I don't know what that is.

[Unknown]

Absolutely. So this is a framework. It was developed by a dietitian, Ellen Satter, but she's also. I believe she's also a therapist or a psychotherapist.

[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

Okay, perfect.

[Unknown]

Yeah, she has a lot of the research behind behaviors and all of that, but it's kind of just the framework we go by. And what it really relates to is that the parents determine what food is offered, and they determine when it's offered and where. So if you're in the kitchen, your kids are at the table or in their booster or their high chair, you've made dinner based on what you deem acceptable or whatnot, and you put the amounts on their plate. Once you've done that, technically, as a parent, according to this framework, your job is done. Now it's up to the kids to decide if they're going to eat it and if they do, how much. Because, again, that's letting them learn their hunger and fullness cues. It's letting them have autonomy in their food choices, and it's less pressure overall. So I think it can be difficult to transition to that if you're someone who's maybe grown up in the clean your plate club, which many of us did. And I think parents were doing the best that they could or what they knew in the past. But now there's sort of this new wave of education about this and helping kids really have that curiosity around food and learn their hunger and fullness cues and hopefully have a more enjoyable experience at the table.

[Dr. Wendy Hunter]

Yeah. So they really are tied. That division of responsibility concept is very much part of intuitive eating, letting your children explore. I loved this conversation because it's a good reminder that food is more than just nutrition. It's connection. It's routine. It's one of the few moments in the day when the whole family can slow down at least a little and check in with each other. And if dinner feels like a battlefield, more than a bonding moment. That's okay, you don't have to fix it all at once. Start with small things. Maybe it's choosing one night a week where everyone helps plan the meal. Or maybe try playing music while you cook. Maybe it's letting your kids eat on a picnic blanket in the living room once in a while. Or my personal favorite tip from Sarah Wear a costume to dinner. It might sound silly, but sometimes a little silliness is exactly what we all need. I want to give a huge thanks to Sarah Schlichter for joining me today and for sharing such practical and judgment free advice. You can find her at Bucket List Tummy and listen to her podcast Managing Mealtime Madness for even more tips on keeping your family fed and sane. I've got links to her blog and podcast in the Show Notes, along with a link to a fantastic chef's kit for kids that I found on her website. I mean, what better way to get your kids to join you in the kitchen than for them to use their very own kitchen tools? Thanks for listening. And remember, if dinner tonight is cereal and baby carrots, you're still doing great. I'm right there with you, doing the best I can for my family too. Please share this episode with a friend and leave a star review and comment in Apple Podcasts if that's where you're listening. I read all your comments and I love to hear your support and I'd love to hear your questions on topics that you want to hear about. You can reach me through links in the Show Notes. For more from the Pediatrician next door, find me on the web@ pediatriciannextdoorpodcast.com if you've got a question about the weird things kids do, send an email to hellopediatricians for a chance to hear your voice on the show. I'm Dr. Wendy Hunter and I'm the Pediatrician next Door. This show is produced by Red Rock Music. Make sure to subscribe and leave a review wherever it is you're listening. I'll be back next time with more.