A table for two, please: Feeding in families with siblings

 Susannah Ayre, A table for two, please: Feeding in families with siblings

Winner – Queensland University of Technology VYT local competition (2022) 

Transcript:

Mealtime mess, fuss with food, table tantrums. Sound familiar? Half of parents report concerns about how their kids eat, which can often lead to them using strategies like pressure and bribes. But these strategies can be ineffective and even counterproductive. Programs exist to support families with feeding, but often target first-time parents and don’t consider the realities of mealtimes with multiple kids. My research aims to understand how parents feed siblings. I interviewed parents and recorded their family mealtimes, then built a model to show the complex roles of siblings in feeding dynamics. This model can help design more tailored and practical programs, leading to pressure-free parent feeding, independent eaters, and drama-free dinners.