how to make family meals happen and a note to the nutritionists at grand rounds!

Had a great time presenting to the pediatricians at Grand Rounds today on feeding dynamics and the current approach to childhood "obesity." Great group, great questions. (I didn't see anyone texting or sleeping, and since many were sleep-deprived residents, I'm pretty happy!)

I do want to mention that I shared some "horror stories" of bad advice clients have gotten from physicians and nutritionists, but I want to stress that there are many, many nutritionists and physicians who do wonderful work, who work within the feeding dynamics model. I was happy when a Children's dietitian spoke up at the end to let her colleagues and physicians know they work in the model, and don't just recommend organic mac-n-cheese as the solution to all your feeding concerns! I would say to the teams that take care of kids, know what models your team members work with. Get to know your nutritionists, read their evaluations. Send families to experts who support your message, not sabotage it.

A common theme that came up was the families they work with say they "can't" or are too busy for family meals. Too many sports, activities, eating fast food in the car...

I just keep coming back to being firm about how important structure and family meals are, encouraging families to make it a priority. Family meals mean kids eat better, have stable weight, less disordered eating, less picky, eat more fruits and veggies, overall success in life, less drugs/alcohol/tobacco...

One of the awesome tech support guys told a fun story after the talk. His son's girlfriend used to complain that the son's family dinners cramped the young couple's style, that she didn't like making plans around family dinners. Now though, she seeks them out, joins in and enjoys them. Starting with family meals may be hard, kids might complain at first. Stick with it. It is that important. As the genteleman said, "Our family meals are where we have the best times, the best memories." I would say it's more important than being in a third activity. Help your kids prioritize.

Have any of you made a successful transition to family meals? How did you make it happen?