I have a love-hate relationship with mealtime. I love food, but not when my toddler is hanging on my ankles and my preschooler is asking “is the food ready yet? My tummy says I’m hungry”. Then both want snacks as soon as the meal is over anyways! So how can we make mealtime less stressful? Introduce some fun!

Both of my kids love “helping” me cook. They can help get things out of the fridge, mix together ingredients, set timers, and get the table ready. This way kids feel involved, helpful and occupied.

By good, I mean one that fits the child, has an easy to attach/detach tray, and fits your eating surface well. I also mean safe; it attaches well to the chair and the buckle it easy for an adult to use. We recently started using a The First Years Mickey Mouse Helping Hands Feeding & Activity Seat and we LOVE it! It attaches easily, buckles easily, and fits both our 1 year old and our 3 year old nicely! Plus the tray is easy to place and remove.

This is another reason we LOVE our First Years Mickey Seat! Both kids love Mickey Mouse, so sitting in a seat with big black ears is a great joy! Emersyn now asks to sit in her seat while she waits for the food instead of hanging on my ankles! The colors are bright and fun. Plus the tray has fun attachables, which leads right into….

 

Toys on the tray or table can be a lifesaver! Especially suction toys that won’t immediately hit the floor. The Mickey Mouse Helping Hands Seat has 4 attachments: a cup holder, roller ball, suction hand, and suction rattle head. My kids like to sit and high-5 the hand, or spin the roller ball. It entertains my toddler to no end that she has a specific spot to put her cups.

I’ve had a mental battle over this one myself, but currently we have the iPad at the table. The kids got into the bad habit of eating in front of the tv. For my sanity, I needed them back at the table to eat. So, the iPad became a table item and the tv stays off during the day. They watch educational programs while they eat, unless they are entertained by each other enough to forget to ask me to turn it on. It’s a habit we’ll have to break someday, but for now it has them at the table for long enough to eat their food and not be hungry 5 minutes later.

Healthy foods can be fun. We love dipping things in ranch and deciding if things should be hot or cold. I’ll add yogurt, fruit or ranch to anything if they ask nicely!

I’m a big advocate of canned fruits and frozen veggies. I can microwave the veggies and open the can while the main dish is cooking, and it’s all done! Yummy, healthy and easy! This gives them choices without making more work or taking more time.

 

This post was sponsored by The First Years, opinions are 100% my own. They sent us the Mickey Mouse Helping Hands seat, which is available at Walmart! They also provided us with two great meals from Blue Apron and some fun Mickey Mouse eating gear.