3 reasons to serve dessert WITH your children's meals

Wait, Elizabeth, aren’t you a dietitian? And now you’re telling me to serve my kids dessert with their dinner… have you lost your mind?

Yes… and no. Yes, I am a dietitian who cares a lot about healthful eating. And no, I haven’t lost my mind.

Here are a few of the reasons why I’m suggesting this approach.

First, when kids see an age-appropriate portion of dessert foods on their plate alongside dinner foods, it conveys to them that ALL foods are on the same footing. This can help decrease the excitement around sweets or treats. Contrast that with serving dessert after dinner and requiring kids to eat veggies or their meat before they can have it. In the second scenario, dessert feels more like the more appealing treasure or reward while veggies and meat become the less appealing foods you “have” to eat. Ultimately, this can unintentionally make your kids more interested in dessert and less interested in other nutrient-dense foods.

Serving dessert with dinner also allows your child to exert some autonomy over their eating decisions. Since they get to choose which order and how much of each food they want to have, eating battles are minimized. You're also conveying trust in your child's body and giving them opportunities to self-regulate their eating.

Third, many kids will race through dinner to get to dessert. This becomes a non-issue when they get it all at once, helping to restore some calm to mealtimes.

I’m NOT suggesting you need to take this approach every night or that you need to serve them unlimited quantities of dessert with dinner. But offering a reasonable portion of dessert with the meal often enough for it not to be overly exciting can have some positive benefits for both kids and parents.

Perhaps you’re thinking, “that would never work—my child would eat nothing but dessert and nothing else!” or imagining how frustrating it would be when they ask for seconds, thirds, and more of dessert while avoiding all the other foods on their plate. Maybe you’re wondering, how on earth this could possibly be healthful?

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