Mindfulness During Mealtime With Kids

A few months ago I noticed I was viewing mealtimes as “downtime” and sort of checking out when it came to feeding Gino. I’d be scrolling through my Instagram feed or group texting, in between shoving spoonfuls of food into his mouth.

I realized I was doing my little man a disservice and missing out on quality time interacting with him at mealtime.

I plan to raise a tiny spiritual gangster and I knew the work needed to start now. Some of you with toddlers are probably rolling your eyes and I’m not saying that I think he’ll be perfectly behaved at the table forever, BUT we do want this to be a priority and we are starting to implement some best practices now.

• 

• 

Here’s how we practice mindfulness during mealtime with kids:

• Table for 3: We try to eat together as much as possible and give him a place at the table. When Gino is having a meal, I’ll pull his little high chair up to the table and enjoy my breakfast or lunch alongside him.
• No Phone Zone: No phones at the dinner table. Pretty simple.
• Set The Mood: We love to set the mood by playing music on our Alexa! Sometimes it’s “Nursery Rhyme Parade” and other days it’s “Today’s Pop” or “Oldies”.
• Mind Your Manners: We teach Gino manners like saying “please,” “thank you,” and “excuse me.” Even though he can’t talk or *really* understand, I plan on raising a tiny gentleman so why not start now?
• Talk To Me Baby: We like to engaged G in “conversation” and talk to him about what he’s eating, how we made it and why it’s good for him in his little belly!

Speaking of food, Gino is now 10 months and basically eats what we eat…muffins, pasta, turkey meatballs and most recently PIZZA!

When he first started solids, I wanted to make his baby food but found myself stressed out by all the conflicting research and the time it took to actually prepare his food.

I am so glad I had the opportunity to try Momma Gourmet. Every week they send you fresh, organic meal kits delivered to your door with the goal of introducing three new ingredients to your baby each week! Inside each kit is the produce for the week and little recipe cards on how to make the purees.

Momma Gourmet is pediatrician approved and I love that they do all the research for you. The recipes were quick, easy and produced a lot of leftovers to freeze for later.

Momma Gourmet was the perfect solution for this busy, working mama who still wanted to be hands-on with her baby’s first foods! In fact, we used Momma Gourmet up until Gino was ready to move on from purees.

If your little is ready for their first solids and you want to give Momma Gourmet a try, they’ve extended a code to my readers for ONE WEEK FREE!

Simply use code: BABESKILLS at checkout!

*Momma Gourmet provided free meal kits to try in exchange for my honest review on Instagram. A blog post was not expected but I had SUCH a great experience I wanted to share here!