THE SENSORY MADE SIMPLE PODCAST

Transcript

Welcome to episode 12 of the Food Explorers Podcast.

We've talked a lot this month about fruit and how it can be challenging for children with feeding difficulties.

But that may have left a lot of questions for you about where to go from here, and how exactly to help your child open up to the idea of fruits.

If you've been listening to the podcast or following my Instagram for a while, you know that I am a huge proponent of learning about foods and introducing them away from the table.

This is because I feel that this really opens up the possibility of exploring and having true fun around new foods without any pressure of eating them.

Additionally, it provides the opportunity for children to utilize their senses in a different, less threatening, and fun way to learn about a food.

Something I often recommend is that instead of focusing on just those bites at mealtime, I really encourage parents to adopt a food explorer lifestyle.

What I mean by this is practicing a lifestyle with your child that encourages fun, exploration, and their own love of food.

And exploring foods away from the table can help you do that.

There's a variety of ways you can do this, but today I wanna talk about just one of them.

You pick farms.

You've probably heard someone recommend gardening as a way to help children explore new foods.

I'm a big fan of that too, and we'll actually be talking about that a little bit more next month.

You pick farms are an extension of gardening.

Right away, I do wanna tell you that the research on gardening isn't so great, and some have even found that it didn't make a massive difference in intakes of fruits and vegetables.

But I think it's important to point out here that gardening or you pick farms aren't something we're planning to do in isolation.

If gardening and you pick farms are the only method you are planning to use, then I think that research might be a bigger issue.

But when I'm talking about this, I'm talking about a bigger picture and other strategies in mind.

And I personally think that makes all the difference.

So in my personal opinion, while these techniques don't always, and I say don't always because there are also plenty of studies that have found that they were helpful, depending on how the study was conducted.

So while the techniques don't always have a direct change in eating fruits and vegetables, it does help kids practice those first couple steps, looking at, interacting with, and touching new foods before they even get to the table.

I've talked about this in past podcast episodes, but I really like the SOS approach to feeding for kids with feeding challenges.

According to the SOS approach to feeding, there are 32 steps to eating that range from being in the same room as a food, to touching it, to biting it, and swallowing it.

For example, think of that very first time you ate sushi.

Is it a food you just immediately stuck right into your mouth?

If you're anything like me, you didn't.

You probably watched people eat it a couple times while you had a different meal on your plate.

Then maybe you put it on your plate and poked it with your chopsticks.

Finally, you felt brave enough to test it out on your teeth before taking a teeny tiny bite.

Without realizing it, you went through these steps, and they made you feel comfortable before getting to that chew and swallow step.

Many children with feeding challenges get stuck at the lower steps, like looking at, for example, so many of you tell me, your child won't even acknowledge a new food on their plate, interacting with or touching it.

And so a really easy way to practice this is at a You Pick Farm.

Again, I want to be realistic and honest with you when it comes to research.

I personally think SOS is a fantastic approach, but there is research out there that supports other methods too.

The SOS approach to feeding is not a fast approach, and it's not really meant to be.

It's meant to help children become comfortable at their own pace, so they can form a lifelong healthy relationship with food.

Okay, so you pick farms, what are they?

These are farms that grow fruits and vegetables, but that you can visit and pick on your own.

So for example, you can often go to a farm and pick your own apples, strawberries, or blueberries.

Depending on where you live and the time of the year, there are different options.

Children can really interact at their own pace, they can just adventure through the rows of fruits, pick them off, and some children will even try and eat them right away.

Of course, this comes down to your comfort with them eating it without washing it.

We personally always wash ours first.

But you and I know it might not be as easy as just showing up, and your child is super excited to pick some fruit.

So I wanted to give you a couple tips for how to make this easier for them.

Number one, wear comfortable clothing.

If your child does not usually interact or eat fruit, we already know this is going to be a more challenging experience for them.

So I would definitely recommend allowing your child to wear clothing that is comfortable for them, so all of their focus can be on that learning.

It's really hard to do something new if you're already uncomfortable.

Number two, bring sunglasses.

If your child is sensitive to visual information or light, sunglasses can be really helpful for minimizing visual input, giving their sensory system more room to explore and play.

Number three, bring kids safe scissors.

The farms might not always provide you with scissors that you feel confident letting your child use.

Many fruits can be picked by hand, but others need to be cut.

So bringing scissors your child can safely use will allow them to be more independent.

Number four, bring gloves.

If your child isn't ready to touch the fruit with their hands, we don't want them to not be able to participate at all.

This is especially hard for children who struggle with graded control.

Graded control is knowing how hard to pick up and pull that fruit off the vine without squishing it.

So if your child is sensitive to getting their hands dirty, but then they accidentally keep squishing that fruit, they're gonna be less likely to want to do this.

But giving them a pair of gloves will provide that barrier if they're not ready to touch it with their hands.

And number five, remember, the goal of this is to have fun and to help your child explore and interact.

We don't want this to be a high pressure activity, but rather a way for them to start to learn about food in a different way.

If they're not ready to do the activity, try to find somewhere in the middle where they can still be part of it.

Maybe they can hold the bucket, or maybe they can count how many you've picked, et cetera.

Focus on the fun, the interaction, and your relationship with them first.

And that brings us to the end of our You Pick episode.

If you've been listening to and loving the podcast, I would be forever grateful if you could leave a review for me.

Just scroll to the bottom and click those five stars.

And I hope you'll join us back here next week when JR is coming back to the podcast to chat with me about my Making Sense of Eating program.

If you have a sensational child who struggles at the table, you're gonna want to tune in for this.

I'll see you then.