Family Style Meals

[mamamanda]

For those of you who serve family style meals, how much do you allow the children to do? Do they actually serve themselves? I'm trying to envision what this would look like and it seems like a mess. :: For medical reasons I need to figure out a way for me to be able to eat during the day and I was considering this option so that I could eat with them and everything would be out on the table instead of me jumping up and down 10-15 times each meal serving seconds, filling cups, replacing dropped spoons, etc. At what age do you let them start dishing up their own food? I'm also considering filling cups and plates like I've been doing and then telling them we all sit and eat what we have for 10 or so minutes to give me a chance to eat with them w/o all the up and down. Then after that I could serve seconds. They rarely eat all of their food anyway. Most of them choose one or two things and ask for seconds and thirds of that and leave the rest. When do you eat and if not with the kids how do you manage a healthy meal time for yourself?

[Thriftylady]

I guess it depends on your idea of family style. I fill the plates, but we sit at the table and eat family style.

[AuntTami]

I guess it depends on your idea of family style. I fill the plates, but we sit at the table and eat family style.

We do this too and no one gets seconds of anything until they've eaten everything, with the exception of the veggies.

I fill cups and plates in the kitchen, and bring them to the table and we all sit down and eat together. They take longer so I'm usually done with my food well before they've eaten all of theirs so when they're ready for seconds, I'm already up cleaning up cuz I've finished eating

[Heidi]

Right now my oldest is only 26 months, so I serve firsts, put the bowls of seconds on the table, and help them with seconds once their plate is empty. As they get older, I will move towards them serving themselves.

I usually eat with them, but not always what they eat.

Everyone puts their hands on their laps, and we wait until everyone is seated (including me), and we say "Enjoy your meal". THEN we all eat. No one touches their food until we say this, because otherwise, I get one bite in, and someone wants "more more".

No one gets excused until at least one other friend is done (I say when and would prefer everyone is done, but I have a putser and that's not really fair to the others)No one gets excused until one of those friends is Miss Heidi, at the very least. Otherwise, they're tearing the house apart while I'm trying to eat those last 3 bites. Nope!

It's mostly breakfast that's an issue for me (and that's why I started this system). I can't eat before they arrive; too early. I can't eat after they do, because they either stare at me like hungry dogs, or they get naughty. So, we eat together like civilized people.

Lunch, I could wait until their napping, but I like to at least try to be consistent, and I'm generally hungry by then.

[heyhun77]

I do family style except milk because we have several kinds of milk due to dietary issues. I think of family style as "thanksgiving with everyone around the table" kind of service. Foods are in serving dishes with serving utensils and passed from person to person to serve themselves as much or little of each item as they wish to have. I put everything in bowls or on plates and each child serves themselves. I pour milk but once their milk is gone they pour water if they wish to have some. My youngest right now is 13 months and my oldest is 3 years 9 months. They ALL serve themselves to some extent. Obviously the 13 month old isn't doing it all for herself by my 3 year olds definitely do.

I also have the kiddos ask to be excused from the table and then bus their dishes to the dishpan, push in their chairs and then go to the bathroom/get their diaper changed and then wash hands before we a) play after breakfast/snack or b) lay down for nap after lunch

I assist the kiddos with scooping or using tongs as needed but I ask that they try before asking for help. I also eat with the kids at every meal. There are times that I eat something other than what they are eating but typically I eat a little of what they are eating to get me through and then eat my lunch while they are napping.

[snbauser]

We do family style. The kids wash up get their own plates, napkins, cups, utensils and go to their seat. When they are all seated, we pass around the bowls of food and they use the tongs or spoons to serve themselves. They must take at least 1 scoop of everything but they may not take more than 2 to start. After they have all fo their food, they pour their own milk. I use small pitchers for this. If they want seconds, I serve seconds. I have always served the seconds because when I was a center in a residence/large fcch, I had to follow sanitation guidelines which said that after the children had started eating, they could not touch the "community" serving utensils. Even though I am not under their guidelines anymore, it just made sense so I continued it.

[Josiegirl]

We have a modified version. I serve up their plates the first time, then put the plates of veggies and/or fruits on the table so they can get more if they want.
Ever since I found out you cannot reserve the leftovers(per the FP), if they've been on the table, I've gotten away from it.

[heyhun77]

We have a modified version. I serve up their plates the first time, then put the plates of veggies and/or fruits on the table so they can get more if they want.
Ever since I found out you cannot reserve the leftovers(per the FP), if they've been on the table, I've gotten away from it.

I get around this by only putting some of the food in the serving bowls and then refilling them if need be. That way the fresh stuff hasn't been served and can still be used while they still serve themselves.