The Snack Wasn't the Entire Problem

I've been thinking about one little boy this week.

His mom sighed as she sat across from me and said,

"I don't get it. Every single day he comes home from school absolutely starving."

She laughed a little as she listed everything he'd eaten before dinner.

Goldfish, a yogurt pouch, 2 granola bars, half an apple.

Then she looked at me and said the sentence I hear almost every week.

"And then he tells me he's not hungry."

I smiled. Not because I thought it was funny. Because I knew how frustrating that moment can feel.

You spend time making dinner. Maybe it's one of the few moments your family is together all day. You finally sit down, and your child pushes the plate away.

If you're anything like most parents, your brain immediately starts searching for answers.

"Should I have said no to the snack?"

"Is he just avoiding dinner?"

"Am I making this worse somehow?"

As both a feeding therapist and a mom, I understand those questions. I've had evenings where I've looked at my own kids and quietly thought, "Seriously? You were starving an hour ago."

It's such an easy conclusion to make:

The snack ruined dinner.

But what if, the snack wasn't actually the problem? What if dinner wasn't where the struggle began? What if it was simply the place where you finally noticed it? That one shift in thinking changes far more than what's on the plate. It changes how we respond. It changes the questions we ask. And over time, it changes dinner itself.

I wrote a new article this week that dives deeper into this idea and explains why children often eat plenty after school but still refuse dinner—and why understanding what's happening beneath the behavior matters so much more than simply finding a better strategy.

📖 Read the full story here →

Why Your Child Eats Snacks But Refuses Dinner (And What to Do Instead)

👉 https://www.theearlyyears.co/why-child-eats-snacks-but-refuses-dinner

Thank you for letting me join you around your table each week.

Until next week,

Kristin

Pediatric Occupational Therapist, Feeding Therapist, & Mom