Children Serve Themselves Strategies: Provide Child-Friendly Food UnitsPage 6 of 14

Children Serve Themselves: StrategiesPage 6 of 14
PROVIDE CHILD-FRIENDLY FOOD UNITS TO ASSIST CHILDREN WITH SELF-SERVICE

Watch the following video from Dr. Samantha Ramsay, a leading nutrition expert, to learn about food units.

Adults prepare food in UNITS—the size of food that is presented to children. A UNIT can help support children to select the portions that are appropriate for themselves based on their internal cues of hunger and fullness. Some units are easier for children to serve themselves and others make serving more difficult for children.

An example of peaches, in different food UNITS, is provided below:

bowl of peaches cut in half
Whole pieces are difficult for children to scoop.
bowl of peaches cut in quarters
Mid-sized fruit can be easier for children to scoop.
bowl of peaches cut in small pieces
Diced fruit is the easiest for children to scoop.

Caregivers of young children provide a supportive feeding environment when they consider how food is presented to children. They should use appropriate language to guide children towards starting with smaller portions of small food units. They should also prepare enough servings of food to satisfy children’s hunger and fullness.

Question Time

Note: Try answering the questions below. Take your best guess! These will not be graded/scored. It is OK if you do not know the answer.

1. True or False: An easy way to encourage self-service for children at mealtime is to use soup.

2. Which food unit would be most appropriate for children to serve themselves?

A

large muffin

B

medium muffin

C

small muffin

Select the best answer based on photos above.

You can now move on with the lesson by clicking the "Save and Continue" button below.
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