A sticker chart your child wants to finish.

Most feeding advice asks the parent to do more. This asks your child to do something, which is usually where the change starts.

Print it, put it where your child can reach it, and let them add a sticker after every meal that goes well. The path runs from Ezi the Tiger at the start, past Novi the Cow, Ari the Duck and Phi the Dog, to a treasure chest at the end. Your child is not being marked on how much they ate. They are moving along a path, and that is a very different feeling at the table.

How it actually works

• Start Here. The first sticker goes on before anything has been earned, so the chart begins as a win rather than a test.
• A gold star at seven meals. Something small. A favorite snack, ten more minutes before bed.
• The treasure chest at twenty-eight. Four weeks of meals. This one is worth making a fuss about, and it does not have to cost anything. A trip to the park counts.
• Six feeding tips for you, on their own page. Hunger cues, portion sizes, and why the calmer you are before a meal, the calmer your child tends to be during it.

It is three pages, it prints on a home printer, and it is yours to keep.