5 Ideas for Getting Your Picky Eater to Try New Foods in Daycare

It is not unusual for children to enter the Montessori daycare environment with an existing aversion to trying new things. With a little planning, this predisposition can be overridden, and that has the potential to lead to a child who is willing to try any new food, and even eager to learn more about it.

       1.  Be a Role Model

If you want your children to eat a wide variety of food, the best advice is to be just as adventurous as you want your kids to be. Parents and teachers are important role models for small kids, and they have a tendency to mimic what they see their role models do.

       2. Experiment With Food Traits

One of the more successful food tasting games involves "experimenting" with foods that share common traits. It may be the color, or foods with similar tastes or smells or shapes, or pretty much any comparison you care to name. Once she has tried the food in question, ask her to describe what she likes or dislikes about it

        3. Tasting Games

Tasting games can be a lot of fun. Whether it is a simple blindfolded taste test, or some other game like having the other kids describe what they think something tastes like by watching the reaction of the taster, food tasting games turn trying new foods into a fun experience.

        4. Origins of Foods

Your kids may be surprised to find out that their most-- and least-- favorite foods have origins in the far places of the world. Learning where new foods come from is a great way to convince them to give them a try. From butter beans to white rice, there is a whole world of food origins to explore.

        5. The Bad With the Good

Even foods that your children definitely do not like may become more interesting with a few creative add-ons. Trying things like serving asparagus with a cheese sauce or adding grapes or pineapple to salad may be all it takes to turn their dislikes into favorites.

In many cases, children have already been conditioned to automatically dismiss foods they aren't familiar with. The good news is that young kids are naturally curious and they are willing to give almost anything a try if you take away their unfounded prejudice against it.

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4 Effective Examples of Hands-On Learning in Preschool

Hands-on learning is a fundamental part of an authentic Montessori preschool education. Children learn by doing things, manipulating objects, and practical life experiences. Through play-based activities, children build vocabularies, learn about the sciences, discover language skills, and begin to learn about a variety of math concepts. To illustrate the importance of play-based learning, these 4 types of activities are great examples

       1. Authentic Activities

Montessori activities such as the Pink Tower or Binomial Cubes are designed specifically to be manipulated by young minds and hungry minds. Authentic activities teach fundamental critical thinking skills, promote the development of fine motor skills, and provide the tools for a variety of math skills.

        2. Discovery Bottles

Discovery bottles are containers that contain various things. The purpose of a discovery bottle is to teach a child stimulating their interest or providing them with workable knowledge. Discovery bottles can be used to engage a child's senses and may include sound, sight, taste, scent, and touch. As children manipulate the containers, they are building fine motor skills, and the items in each container encourage critical thinking.

       3. Movement Activities

Gross motor skills are necessary for running, jumping, and climbing. Activities like dancing that require moving about encourage these skills to develop, building muscle tone, bone structure, and stamina. Gross motor skill development is one of several reasons that Montessori students spend so much time outdoors instead of in a closed room.

      4. Outdoor Activities

There are Montessori-style outdoor activities to fill many educational pursuits. Identifying insects or types of leaf involves scientific methods, building a blanket fort involves critical thinking skills and gross motor skills, and simple games of tag involve social interaction, critical thinking, gross motor skills, and more.

Hands-on learning has been shown to increase retention and encourage children to use the activities more regularly. Instead of providing a string of information in an impartial manner, hands-on activities give children a chance to wrap their hands-- and heads-- around real-life examples and practical exercises.

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How Therapy Can Help with Family Conflicts

 As the tightest village, your family is a rich source of love, support, and fond memories. Your family also can be the source for conflict, as even the most beloved family member acts in a way that disrupts the tight bond formed within the village. How do you address conflict within your family?

The answer is by undergoing family therapy.

Family therapy represents a form of psychotherapy that provides support for families that need to improve how family members communicate and how they resolve inevitable conflicts. A licensed therapist conducts family therapy sessions and the therapist you take your family to for conflict resolution should be credentialed by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).

The conflict resolution strategy implemented by your licensed therapist depends on your unique set of circumstances. All family members can attend family therapy sessions, as well as just the members of your family that want to participate in the sessions.

The Benefits of Family Therapy

Getting every family member into a room to resolve conflicts appears to be a difficult goal, but the rewards of attending family therapy sessions far outweigh the potential roadblocks. Family therapy is an often effective tool for mending broken relationships, which is the foundation for resolving conflicts. The broken relationships can be with a spouse, child, or close relatives. Addressing specific issues such as money problems and marital disagreements brings the family members together under the watchful eye of a trained and licensed family therapist.

Family therapy helps family members deal with a relative who suffers from a severe mental illness. The afflicted family member does not attend any sessions. Just the impacted family members attend to discover strategies on how to cope with the ups and downs presented by mental illness. Another benefit of attending family therapy sessions involves learning how to help a relative who suffers from one or more addictions.

You should consider family therapy to address any family conflict that generates strong emotions such as grief, stress, and anger.

What Your Family Should Expect

Although the goal of family therapy is to bring family members together, a relative has the option to attend individual child or adult therapy sessions. You can expect each session to last around one hour, with 12 sessions representing the average number of sessions required to resolve conflicts within a family

During family therapy sessions, you get the opportunity to express thoughts and emotions in a highly productive environment. The licensed therapist overseeing each session keeps the discussions on point, without any family members resorting to using emotionally charged language. You might discover new roles for certain family members, as well as learn about the strengths and weaknesses of each member of your family.

The Bottom Line

Family therapy is not a miracle cure for what ails your family. Instead, it is a proven strategy to help families resolve conflicts under the guidance of a trained and licensed therapist.

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