Your family is sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner. The table has been set and the plates are loaded. It’s time to eat. As you look toward the kids’ table, though, you realize they’re looking at their plates in horror.
For young kids who haven’t sat down at many Thanksgiving dinners, yet, they’ve probably never seen the likes of glazed carrots or cranberry sauce or candied yams before.
What are you going to do?
Option 1: Cause a scene at the dinner table in front of Grandma Sue and Great Aunt Mary (who, of course, made the glazed carrots, cranberry sauce and candied yams) and make them eat everything on their plates.
Option 2: Let it go.
According to Dr. John LaCount, a pediatrician with St. Elizabeth Physicians’ Florence office, as long as your kids are growing and developing normally, you should let it go.
“The holidays are meant to be fun and memorable, not stressful,” he said. “I encourage families to take a step back and realize this isn’t the end all, be all.”
Instead of making a scene at Thanksgiving dinner ““ which, by the way, LaCount said, other people probably won’t remember but your kids likely will ““ impress upon your kids that they need to at least try a little bit of everything.
“You don’t have to necessarily eat the whole thing, but you have to at least put some on your plate and try it, because then Great Aunt Mary sees that you took some and forgets about it,” he said.
It helps that adults generally are at one end of the table and kids at the other (or at their own table entirely), LaCount said, because the adults won’t notice what the kids are eating. Again, the only ones who will remember if you get angry and yell at your children about not eating everything are your children.
“Thanksgiving is about being together with family,” he said. “Maybe food is what we use to represent that, but parents definitely shouldn’t sweat the small stuff if their kids are doing well in terms of growth.”
