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Mama Speaks #24

Distraction eating should be an Olympic sport.

Mealtime with a toddler is always an experience. Sometimes it’s easy, and they eat whatever you give them. Other times, it’s a bit challenging, and they need encouragement or coercion. And then there are the times when they claim to be done before we’ve even had our first bite. It’s these times, where Olympic-level parenting kicks into gear.

The art of distraction eating is an acquired skill and kind of exhausting. Rookies (and trust me, I was there) get flummoxed when dinnertime becomes tantrum time. The irrational screaming at delicious pasta causes their brain to stop working and they are frozen in fear. Amateurs find a way to move said child to their lap and still finish their own meal without dropping rice in their kid’s hair. But parenting Olympians (at least in this particular situation) have learned that when all else fails, sometimes letting their kid play with Legos, glance at YouTube, or read their library, so we can shove forkfulls of food down their throat without resistance, is the best (and only) way to go.

Distraction eating takes longer than sitting at the table like a normal person and requires patience and practice. It’s also basically waving the white flag at a little banshee human. But sometimes we have no energy to put up a fight, and I would much rather fill my baby’s belly than battle over broccoli (which she actually eats willingly…at least right now).


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