Say Yes to the Mess
A child’s job is to play and, guess what? They LEARN through play. Learning through play does not only mean playing with toys. It means allowing your child to play with food, too. Why is this important? It is important because eating is one of the most complex activities we do as humans. It involves ALL of our senses-sight, smell, touch, sound, and taste and even our “hidden sense” of proprioception as we grade how much force to use when grasping food. There are 2 other “hidden senses” in addition to proprioception (vestibular, interoceptive) that are also involved, but we can save talking about those in more detail for another day. By allowing your child opportunities to play with and explore a variety of foods, the more you are EXPOSING them to the sensory aspects of the food. Over time, EXPOSURE leads to ACCEPTANCE.