00:07
Good morning moms. Today is October 13th, 2025, and it is time to clock into your Monday meeting.  Today I am joined by Liz Kirkpatrick from the Feeding Academy.  Hi, Liz. It is so nice to have you today. Hi, thanks for having me. So if you want to just say a few words to introduce yourselves to our listeners who may not be familiar with your work. Yeah, absolutely. So

00:31
Like you said, I'm Liz Kirkpatrick. I'm a mom to two. I'm a speech language pathologist and a pediatric feeding therapist, and I am the owner of the Feeding Academy. The Feeding Academy is uh my private practice, but along with that, I have an Instagram. I have a sub stack. I kind of run the gamut with all things picky eating. uh I really, what I do is I help parents take meal times from being super stressful, which they

01:01
very well, much can be, to  successful. So feeling like at the end of that meal, like that went well, or like I did my part, my child did their part, all of that. And so, like I said, I work with families in my private practice with feeding therapy when more intervention is necessary. But I also do  one-on-one parent consultations online. And just kind of helps bring that peace  and the confidence.

01:30
two mealtimes with their picky eaters. Well, as a mom  to three, two of whom are picky eaters, we are definitely gonna circle back onto some of your tips. Absolutely. For a calm and picky eating.  You got it.  First, we'll do a little bit of fun stuff.  So we'll just hop into the break room brief. This is kind of what we'd be talking about at the water cooler if we still had office jobs  and had somewhere to hang out other than by the diaper genie.

02:00
So first off, when Taylor Swift was going through her phone telling all of her friends that she was engaged to Travis Kelsey, she left out her good friend Ed Sheeran  because he doesn't have a phone.  Taylor revealed this on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon  and the show posted this as a clip and in the comments underneath,  Ed Sheeran himself confirmed it saying, hello from my allotted iPad time, this is factual.

02:25
He then also posted a meme of himself using said iPad while laying on a rocky shoreline, which he captioned, iPad kid forever. I love that. Do your kids use iPads? Not really. I mean, we do have, we have like a family iPad and we use it when we travel and things. They ask for it all the time. Don't get me wrong, but we typically just have it in a drawer and pull it out when totally necessary.

02:53
Yeah, we're the same way. We use it like for airplanes and long car rides. good for him for knowing his screen time limits. love that he doesn't have a phone. And I saw that clip too, and I thought it was so funny how she was so excited to tell everyone. And then she realized, I didn't realize they were so close. mean, on me. And that she just completely forgot to tell them about their engagement.

03:20
And that's so funny because I would do the same thing, like scrolling through recent conversations.  I don't know anyone who doesn't have a phone. yeah.  I think more of us could do with less screen time and good for him for figuring out a way,  having screen time just on his allotted iPad.  Yeah,  I know.  I oftentimes try and limit my screen time. It's hard when part of your job is

03:49
being online. Absolutely.  You kind of have to unplug from being perpetually plugged in. Also in the news this week, Mattel has launched new one of a kind Barbies that they are calling Team Barbie.  These are featuring female athletes, including U.S. rugby player Alona Marr.  Krista Berger, the senior vice president of Barbie, said that Mattel is committed to breaking down the barriers from gender stereotypes to self-doubt  that hold girls back from realizing their limitless potential.

04:18
The doll will be available for purchase in 2026 and  features a new muscular sculpt that is designed to reflect the build of many strong athletes.  Elona Marr is of course known for winning bronze with the USA Women's Rugby Sevens team,  but also for appearing in the pages of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition  and for competing as a contestant on ABC's Dancing with the Stars.  That's quite a long list of accomplishments for Elona.

04:47
I wonder where being a Barbie ranks in those accomplishments for I was gonna say, and now she's a Barbie.  I love that Mattel is going towards this kind of more realistic body types. And I'm sure, I was reading somewhere, everyone was mad because her legs were not any different. Like, cause I guess, you know, she has very,  she doesn't skip leg day, right? And so, but I guess the Barbie didn't really represent that. And so people were like, know, tizzy about it. Yeah.

05:16
that the upper body is definitely  true to form. But  I hadn't noticed that the legs  are more shapely.  I mean, some people can find faults in anything. I like the way that we're trying to show girls that there's different body types. Yes, yes.  I think that Barbie, especially with the Barbie movie, they've always kind of  prided themselves on showing that girls can do anything. And they have the Barbies that are doctors and the Barbies that

05:45
are babysitters, but then like,  I like that they're also showing that women, you can grow up to be a bad A athlete if you'd like.  So really kinda  shows the spectrum of possibility.  And I like that.  Do you watch Dancing with the Stars? I do not. I like feel like it's in my algorithm and I feel like I know what's going on. And I know, I feel like I know.

06:14
most of the contestants, but it's one show I have not gotten into. I'm kind of with you and mostly because I have an early bedtime. So like in the past life, I would have been able to stay up to watch all of the dances and the eliminations and like do the voting and stuff. I like an interactive show like that. I like feeling like I'm part of the thing, know, like a.

06:42
watching the dances and doing the voting and like having a say.  I like the interactiveness, but  I just. Well, everything, you know, it's so easy to just record and watch things later and to have it be kind of live and you're doing it with, you know, millions and millions of people across the world that it's, it's cool.  I wish  that. And isn't, isn't it like a three hour show or something? Like, isn't it a really long show? Oh yeah, no, I can't.  There's no way.

07:12
So. Yeah, no,  I would definitely fall asleep if I tried to watch that. So I just follow the recaps. So I feel like I know what's going on and then I'm good.  watch the dances when they, because  Ed Sheeran and I, we're iPad kids, like we get the Dancing with the Stars clips on our feed the next morning. So I don't feel like I miss anything, but  I also don't have to stay up and watch the whole thing.  But this past episode of Dancing with the Stars was Disney night.

07:41
and the 11 remaining couples performed dances inspired by beloved Disney films and attractions. This episode for the first time ever  surpassed  40 million votes.  And for the first time this season, a dancer was awarded a nine out of 10 by the judges. If you are a Dancing with the Stars watcher and you have not yet watched this most recent episode,  I would skip ahead a few seconds because I'm about to tell you.

08:07
The 9 out of 10 was awarded to Whitney Levitt from, what's that show that she's on? Warman.  Thank you. The Secret Lives of Warman Lives. Secret Lives of Warman Lives, yes.  Which I watched and loved. don't  know why I blanked on it.  I love a reality show, yeah. Oh gosh, oh gosh. And  I hate how they  made her to be the villain on that show, but following her online,  I like her the most. I think she's the most likable and she  is one heck of a dancer.  Yeah.

08:36
I don't blame them for giving her a nine out of 10 because Homegirl can dance.  Yeah. What song did she do? Do you know? They did a Foxtrot to The Room Where It Happens  from Hamilton. Yeah, which is kind of an interesting pick, but  it was like a really like Broadway-esque performance and it was really, it was really good. Yeah. And  for Eliminations, Hilaria Baldwin went home.

09:04
I guess that was kind of a surprise to a lot of viewers. um She's not really a dancer in my opinion, so I wasn't shocked. But then again, I'm not a diehard viewer. So, yeah, I don't really know much about her.  I take my opinion with a grain of salt.  And  finally today, reading Rainbow will be returning to the  air.

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After a long hiatus, Reading Rainbow was originally on PBS from 1983 to 2006,  hosted by LeVar Burton, but will be returning to YouTube with a new host, TikTok star Michael Threetz, AKA Michael the Librarian. Has Michael ever made his way onto your For You page? I think so, but now I'm gonna go look for him. I love Reading Rainbow. He's great. He's like a  really like gentle soul and like...

09:56
He's children's librarian and he's like very inclusive as a librarian.  And I mean, obviously I love the librarian. I was telling Liz before we started recording that I'm actually recording from my library today.  Having three small kids at home, there was no guarantee that I could make it 20 minutes without being interrupted.  so I'm obviously a big library fan  and Michael the librarian  is, is no different. Did you watch Reading Rainbow growing up? uh

10:26
Of I did. Yeah. course. I always remember, you know, when they would wheel in that giant TV into your classroom and you'd get to watch Reading Rainbow or Magic School Bus or whatever it was, that was the best.  I totally agree.  My son came home from first grade yesterday and told me that they had watched the Magic School Bus in school that day. And I was instantly like so jealous for him. was like, I remember that exact scenario and like  how much fun it was to watch that in school.

10:55
just it's so nice that they're still doing those kind of things and that reading rainbow is back on the air and we'll reach a whole bunch of new  new readers. Absolutely I'm excited. So it's only on YouTube it's not going to be on PDF. It's going to be on YouTube and also on their website.  So just streaming online in two different places but  it will be. big PDFs fan. We are too.

11:23
Yeah, the episodes will air at 10 a.m. on Saturdays on both YouTube and the website. It's a Sony Universal Children's Programming website. that was Just so you know, Magic School Bus is on Netflix. Oh, well, that's really good to know, because I was going to play it for the kids last night, and I was like, don't even know where I'll find it. And they have Mrs. Frizzle, her sister. They have her sister doing it now. She has like, there's like new episodes out.

11:52
They're great generation.  That's fantastic. And of course,  the lizard is still there, right, Liz? Yes.  Yes.  Yeah, because those things live forever. They do. There might maybe I don't know if there's another like a new one with the sister. I can't remember that much, but there's  certainly a lizard in there. Yeah. Okay.  Good. Good. love when

12:16
I don't know, is it like vintage or retro? Like when kids from our childhood are like still relevant today or like make their way back. I love that. Makes me feel like I get to share that with my kids too. And speaking of online things, Amazon Prime Days were last week. Did you pick up anything? I only got an eye mask. I actually bought two of them because they were on sale, like a sleeping eye mask. I have to have an eye mask on to sleep and

12:45
the one I have was just, you know, it needed a replacement. And I mean, it was like, I think they're normally like $17. It was $9. So I was like, I'm just gonna buy two of them and I can put one because there has been a time where I have traveled and I have forgotten the eye mask and I did not sleep at all. I'm like, I'm gonna have backups. So it was that and like, I think I bought Pokemon gummies for my son's birthday. That was it. Gotta have those.

13:15
Yeah. catch those.  Exactly. We have a Pokemon fan in my house too. So  totally, totally understand that.  Yeah. Yeah.  I, I'm the worst. I  realized that it was prime days at like nine o'clock  and I, I bought like  their markers, but they don't have caps. like click like a Oh, I love the clickables.  Love those. That's like, that was a good purchase. Yeah. Yeah. So we bought a new pack of those.  I,

13:43
I like to keep them in like a pencil box in the bag that I take when we leave the house. Like two of my girls do dance lessons and I take the markers and like a couple coloring books with me. Just keep them from watching an iPad the whole time. But yeah, totally. Yeah. And it's really nice because then you don't have to worry about losing a cap or them drying out in your bag because they just, they just retract. But yeah, those were our like, those were like 33 % off or something.

14:12
Sorry, I missed that. kind of need a new set of them. I should have grabbed them.  Yeah. Well, you know the way the internet is. It'll come back around. Before you know it, it'll be  Black Friday and  they'll be... I know. That's what I... You know, I'm not a very good  influencer or whatever I would call myself because I completely missed that it was Prime Days.  And, you know,  I posted a story that was like, well, if you don't want to see that content, then...

14:40
Make sure you're following me because I won't be posting anything.  I know. It's  hard.  It's like  you have to make a living, but at the same time, you also don't want to encourage overconsumption or buying things that you don't need. And you kind of you have to strike that balance in  creating links and you don't want to spam people either. So yeah, it's  also like hot take. I feel like they up the price.

15:09
They still do. before. They still do.  I guess there's like a website that you can use that you can track that and like actually see if you're getting a deal.  I use that all the time. It's called camelcamelcamel.com. Okay.  See, I would have never  remembered that. I'm gonna write it down.  Yeah, you like copy paste the link to the thing that you want to buy and then it like tells you the pricing history and it says like,

15:35
Oh, don't buy this at $45. It was $33 six weeks ago. And yeah, it'll tell you like if it was a good deal or if they marked it up just to mark it down. It's fantastic. We're onto you, Amazon. I know. So that wasn't the mom hack that I was going to feature at Mom Hack Monday. That's just a little preview of mom hack of the year here. Camel, camel, camel. It's a good one.

16:01
And it'll like track prices too. So if you put your email in, it will tell you if it drops to like a lower price. If you want to like really save money on something,  it's a, I don't know how they make money,  It's ads or something, who knows.  It's a good thing to keep in your back pocket there. But while we're chatting mom hacks, you posted a reel the other day with like the best kitchen mom hack I have seen in a long time. My kids  eat so much grapes. have to like.

16:30
combine two packages at the grocery store into one bag because they eat like $20 of grapes every week. And I  go home, I pick each grape off the stem  and then wash them.  And your  hack is gonna save me like infinite time every week. So why don't you  share with us what your mom had to say. So yeah, I saw it. I like saw it on a  reel or something and I was like, I gotta try this. And so you put the grapes like on the stems, you put them between

17:00
two kitchen towels or just fold a kitchen towel over. And then you kind of like roll it back and forth. You have to be kind of aggressive because otherwise they won't fall off the stem. then, you know, it takes about, I discovered mine were probably like three different trials of it to get all of them off, but it was still so much easier than picking them off one by one. So yeah, you just roll it around and they fall off and then you put it in your storage container or whatever you're washing it in.

17:28
and then you do the ones that are left. And yeah, by the end of it, there was just like a couple that I had to pick off and yeah, it was pretty life-changing because my kids love grapes and I do too. And sometimes I won't buy them because I was like, it was such a pain to like meal prep them. Absolutely. And I have like a grape cutter that like you put the grapes in and you move the plunger and it quarters them.

17:55
because my kids preschool, like you have to cut the grapes and one time my husband forgot  and they sent home like a flyer in my kids lunchbox like next time you send grapes,  please make sure you quarter them.  like. It's a choking hazard. Yeah.  Have you ever seen that?  It's a real or I mean, I never can get those straight.  Where the woman's like cutting up the grapes at her son's wedding.

18:20
People talk about it. I will probably do that too. Absolutely. My kids eat popcorn sometimes and I'm like hovering over them like this is the number one choking hazard for children under seven.  They gotta learn, right? Yeah, my husband's like let them live Caroline like they're gonna chew the popcorn. Why are they though? Are they going to chew the popcorn? I actually do have a reel where I like teach parents how to teach your kids how to eat full grapes.

18:46
and hold tomatoes properly because you want to teach them because they're gonna go to a party and it's not gonna be quartered and you want them to know how to do it appropriately. And it's nice to do it in kind of a controlled setting where they're sitting in their mealtime seat and they're safe and you're watching and all of that. That's a great resource. I'm going to go look up that reel and I will put a direct link to it in the show notes if you are like me and want.

19:12
your children to be eating their fruits and vegetables whole by the time they're at their own wedding?  Just for reference, just in case. And then while we're also talking mom hacks, I've told you that both of my girls are really picky eaters and they won't eat vegetables.  Do you have anything that can help me  get them to come around to eating more healthy foods?  That's all I do, all day long.

19:41
I can see all different things. No, it's not just you. um There's a lot of fun ways to engage kids with vegetables or whatever you're trying. You're hoping that they'll consume.  One of my favorites with vegetables specifically is a crunch contest, right?  And to like take it up a notch,  you download a, there's like a decibel meter app  that you can download and it's free. And so you can actually like,

20:10
have a true contest. And I don't know about you, but my kids are very competitive and every child I work with is very competitive. So I'm sure it's just all children. And  once you start getting into these crunch contests and you know, it's like, wonder who can make the biggest crunch with this carrot or whatever it is. You go ahead and model it and you use your decibel meter and you get a number and then you kind of leave it open and like  nine times out of 10.

20:41
the child will pick up that carrot and they might not eat it, but they'll crunch into it. And that's like the first step, right? You have to like, it's baby steps. And so yes, the crunch contest is I pull it out almost every single feeding therapy session I have and it works almost all the time. That is fantastic. I am definitely stealing that one. My youngest doesn't really like anything that crunches.

21:06
But I feel like that could really get her to try it. She eats like yogurt and cottage cheese and like soft things. So I feel like getting her to bridge the gap to like making the crunch, even if she doesn't eat it, like just introducing the idea. I feel like that would be really good for her. even like teeth marks, putting teeth marks in the things. I like to be like, I'm going to see if I can put teeth marks into the snap pea. I'm not asking them to eat it.

21:35
but they're engaging with it and they're getting it in their mouth, which is, you know,  the hardest part sometimes. Exactly.  And so yeah, I have I have all of these tricks. I post about them. I put them in my sub stack. I teach you all about them in my  one on one consultations. But those are just a couple. Wow. Those are gold.  You have to use them. Let me know how they go. Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm going to be stocking all of your pages, trying to learn everything.

22:05
It's incredible.  while we are talking toddler snacks,  today's Mom Hall of Fame  is going to be a Mount Snackmore edition.  We're going to pick our teams of the four greatest toddler snack icons.  Do you want to go first?  Sure. I mean, I'm just going to talk about the ones that I feel like my kids are obsessed with. number one is  the

22:34
The brand is New Primal and they're these pizza flavored, like  my kids call them meat sticks, which I don't think is the appropriate name, but it's like little jerky. So they have to be of a certain age to be able to handle kind of that, have that more mature chewing pattern to um be able to eat them, but they're very tasty. And if they're in the cabinet, they're gone within a couple of days. Yeah. Cause they're like really high protein too. m

23:03
My kids, I don't get that specific kind. I'm to have to look those up. We get the like turkey pepperoni from Vermont.  Okay. know you're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. My kids love those and I send them for school snack, like with one of those and a string cheese,  which is actually going to be my  number one pick is a string cheese. It's one of the  few things  all of my kids will eat. And,  you know, we buy them, we buy them from Costco, like every time we shop there and

23:33
You know, they're cheap, they're quick, they're easy, they hold their own. You really, you can't beat a good string cheese. I eat them a lot too, so. Oh, absolutely. See, my problem is, you know, hello, I'm the picky eating expert and one of my kids will only eat the yellow cheese sticks or like cheddar cheese sticks. And then the other one will only eat the mozzarella cheese sticks. But I give them this because they pretty much eat everything else. And I'm like, fine, you're allowed to be picky about that.

24:03
Yeah. Have you tried the ones that are like the two kinds twisted? Yes, that my daughter will eat those as well. But my son is like, no, no, no, out. yes, I'm with him. But then like yesterday he ate truffle cheese. Like, so it's not like I think it's, you know, it's it's him being for. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, it was probably white truffle cheese.

24:30
Right? It was. Yeah. Yeah. I'm with him. I think cheese should be white.  Milk is white.  It's true. It's true.  My in-laws are from Wisconsin and like when we visit them in the summer, that's like what my kids look forward to.  The cheese. Well, that's what my husband was in Wisconsin because I live in Chicago. And so he was in Wisconsin and he went to Mars cheese castle or whatever it's called and brought home a bunch of cheeses.

24:56
one Christmas we could only get flights into Chicago and we had to drive into Wisconsin. So we drove by all the billboards for the cheese castle.  And I was kind of bummed that we didn't stop at the cheese castle.  I think my kids would be experience.  Okay, so we have meat sticks and string cheese for the starters on our team.  Who are you going to draft next? Okay,  this is a new favorite.

25:25
ah It's, do you know, they're called Smash Foods. They have like the chia seed jelly. Have you heard of them? No. Okay. I  think it maybe, it used to be called Chia Smash and now it's just Smash Foods. But they have these little snack bites and it's like, uh but the flavor you have to get is the grape jelly and peanut butter.  I think they do, they have started selling them at Costco. I get mine at Whole Foods, but they are  so good.

25:54
They're the snack that sometimes I word and I won't even tell my kids I got them because I like them so much.  Liz, you're coming in hot with all the new snack ideas for me.  You know, a lot of time at the grocery store.  Well, I mean, I do too,  but I buy the same things every week. Yeah.  Maybe I'm the picky eater.  for my next one, I am going to go with berries.  I feel like

26:22
Everybody's toddlers really love berries and like you always see those memes that like no one ever talks about the expense. We talk about saving for college and buying diapers, but we don't talk about the berry fund. And it's very true. We actually planted blueberries in my backyard because my kids ate so many blueberries and I was just tired. We ordered them from Costco. We get like two clamshells of strawberries at a time and it lasts like the weekend. So.

26:52
I mean, I shouldn't, I'm not complaining because they're eating a fruit and berries have antioxidants. Here's the thing, do you eat the fruit too? Because  I always have to remind myself that I deserve the good berries too. I have the same mantra. I'll be like washing fruit over the sink and be like,  Caroline, you can eat the fruit. You deserve, you deserve the fruit too.  And  don't like say fruit for the kids. You are worthy of having fruit in your yogurt too.  Exactly.

27:21
which is a really good point to make. They have those, the blueberries, they're called like the sweetest batch. Have you seen those? I have. And they're so good, but they're $8 apart. Or at least they are here. Those I like tell my husband, I'm like, do not give our children those. Those are mine. Those are adult berries. Yes, those are adult berries. Yeah, I don't buy them because in our house we have to go.

27:46
quantity over quantity like yeah, sometimes the blueberries are a little bit sour, but we have two pounds of them. So yes,  you must eat them  And no one complains they eat them. So  that's great  And what are you going to pick next? Okay, so kind of on the same note, I'm gonna go for fruit  and apples and peanut butter It's like my go-to we always have apples. They have to be honey crisp. I'm very particular

28:15
about my apples. And that's another one where I'll get like the cheaper ones to like send in their lunches and things. But like if I'm eating it, it's going to be a honeycrisp apple. And sometimes I'll put a little honey in the peanut butter. My kids, it's like just an easy way to get protein in like after school. we get the little like single serve GIF cups at the store. my youngest

28:40
we talked about, she likes to have smooth textures and peanut butter is one of her favorite things. And so  we had those initially because I would put them to like take places like to the playground or somewhere that's like peanut friendly, but  she'll eat them like with a spoon.  But then also I was like, I  like apples and peanut butter. can eat a GIF cup by myself. It's a really nice snack because then you get the healthy fat from the peanuts.

29:09
And the protein, like you said, it's a good snack. And then do you like do that at home or do you like eat them in the car on the go? No, usually do that at home.  know, peanut butter can get messy.  Not that if you like looked at my car, you would think that I was a stickler for that. But yeah, that's usually a home snack. But or like those little cups all like we don't have a peanut preschool.

29:34
And so I will send that with some crackers for a very easy lunch when I don't have anything left in me. I usually save that for Friday lunch. Like I call Friday lunch, if you follow me. It's usually either hummus Friday or some kind of dip that like a peanut butter Friday, because by the end of the week, I have zero energy to pack a lunch. And so I can just throw that in there with crackers and whatever's lurking in the fridge and call it a day. you pack a lunch every day?

30:04
Almost every day. My kids buy lunch maybe like once, maybe twice a week. My daughter's gluten free and so it's a little like I have to order her school lunch like a month in advance. And so I don't have the ability to be like, oh, I don't feel like packing a lunch. Buy your lunch today. So, but I don't really mind. I don't want to pack lunches. We live in Massachusetts and school lunches are all provided here. So like the school kids get breakfast and lunch.

30:34
and like,  I'm not gonna turn that down.  So, but my kid is like the, my son eats everything under the sun  except for school lunch pizza. And he's like the only child in the world who doesn't wanna eat pizza at school. They eat pizza at home.  I think- Something about it. Yeah, I- Is it that it's square?  Cause aren't they usually square? It's a regular slice of pizza. Cause I asked him that too. But I think-

31:00
I mean, not to like toot my own horn or anything. I think it's because on Fridays I do homemade pizza  and I think my pizza is just better.  You've spoiled him. I did. I think he eats the school pizza and he's like,  no,  not my brand.  mom makes my pizza.  Yeah, from scratch. Yeah. So they have pizza on Wednesdays and I send them a lunch on Wednesdays. So thankfully I only have to do it once a week because.  Yeah.

31:26
That's great. I'm not, I'm not creative enough. You know, you see those moms who have like the special like sandwich cutters and like, I know I totally have that, but that's like part of my job and my gig. So, mean, we have the Uncrustable makers, but there's, it's just a circle. So that's really the only one that I use is still just the circle. have the triangles and squares and you know, but I go, I'm a PRS student comes to Uncrustables. Me too. Absolutely. I do like the

31:55
be like the ability to make my own though so that I can put in like the jelly that they like and the peanut butter that's a little bit healthier than whatever it is they put in the uncrustable. So not that I'm knocking the uncrustable, we do plenty of those too. So. Yeah, those are great. Speaking of foods that are not or should not be portable, my next choice is going to be the Goldfish Cracker.

32:19
We eat a lot of goldfish crackers in my house and unfortunately a lot of those are on the go. So  when I clean my car out, if you follow me, I clean my car out every Tuesday  and I still feel like if I uninstalled my car seats and shook them out on my front lawn, like you could probably create an entire  carton of goldfish in there, but  it's just.

32:42
It's a rite of passage for childhood. Who am I to deny them the joy of crumbling goldfish into the holes of their car seat? absolutely. Yeah. Do they make a gluten-free goldfish? They're not the same. It's real shame. Yeah, I'm sure I could make my own, but that's just not something I'm going to do. I'm not going to do that right now. But yeah, no, they do not make, which is kind of surprising.

33:11
Goldfish company doesn't have a gluten-free option. But there's like the Made Good brand has like stars. But again, they're just not the same. They don't hit the same. Yeah. I have a fun thing with Goldfish that you can do to even work on like other crunchy things. And peanut butter, especially since your daughter loves peanut butter, is you get like a pretzel rod, like a long one, and you dip it in the peanut butter and then you go fishing for Goldfish with it.

33:41
Oh my goodness.  am shocked. That is fantastic idea. You can use other dips, like if you're trying to, you know, work on other dips besides peanut butter, it's a good way to do that. Just fun. Oh my goodness. I'm going to go home and do that right now. Yeah. That's fantastic. My goodness. Okay. And I think you have one more snack to round out your team. So who are you picking?  I'm okay. So I'm going to pick sourdough.

34:11
and butter or sourdough and Nutella. So I have been on my sourdough making journey recently. Tell us more.  I took a class and then Taylor Swift told me to do it. And so I did it. mean,  and I have become slightly obsessed, which is what happens when I get into these little phases. I think I've made like a loaf of sourdough every day for a week and a half.  And, but my kids and my husband are not complaining and

34:40
So my daughter is gluten intolerant. She's not like celiac. And so she can actually tolerate sourdough. And  yes. And so  that has been such a game changer because she loves, she was like,  loves sourdough and was really missing it. And then in France, apparently parents like meet their kids with like a baguette with a chocolate bar in the middle. And I was like, well, I should do that. Like I should, you know, put Nutella on the sourdough and

35:10
Here's your after school snack. And no one has complained.  I love that.  Yeah. actually went to see  the  Life of a Showgirl opening day movie thing. Yes, me Did you do it too?  So yeah, if you didn't see it, she  is really into baking sourdough. And they were talking about  having this still life in the ah Fetal Ophelia music video.

35:37
and they're like, well, maybe have like an apple and a loaf of bread and her like face lights up and she's like, can it be my bread? Can my bread be in the music video?  And they have like- It was beautiful. I'm like, I can do that. She must have made like a couple loaves and like picked the best one to be in the video because it was,  it was perfect. It was. Mine don't look like that. Anything like I know that everything she does is perfect and turns to gold, but like  leave something for the rest of us. Come on, Taylor.

36:06
Geez. So my kids  love snack foods and sometimes  dinner is just  such a chore with them that I'll do what we call snacky dinner and I just put some  healthy snacks like what we've talked about like meat sticks and cheese, maybe some cottage cheese  on a plate and we call it either snacky dinner or toddler tapas and  just because my youngest especially has  her safe foods  but her and her sister really kind of have

36:36
an intolerance to trying new things.  And they'll just straight out say they don't like it. My oldest is not like this at all. Like  he'll eat Indian food if it's put in front of him  just because something he wants to try.  The girls,  they just won't try new things.  What  would you have to say to somebody in my position who  doesn't want their children eating the same four bland foods their whole lives?  Yeah.

37:02
So I think the biggest thing, and I talk a lot about this on my Instagram, is children learn through play everything. They learn everything through play. Think about preschool. They're learning the alphabet through play-based strategies. And so we can't stop play at the dinner table. so trying to find playful ways without pressure, pressure really can lead to picky eating. Kids, they...

37:29
want to have control over things  and what do they have control over?  What they eat,  if they sleep and going to the bathroom, right? So they're gonna use those and those are like the pain points of parenthood, right? When your kids are little.  so uh just anything you can do to give them a little bit of control and then again, making it playful. um So,  you know, doing like the crunch contests  or, uh you know, having

37:59
Again, you have something maybe family style in the middle of your table and they don't want anything to do with it. Just assuring them like you don't have to eat it. Like let's learn about it together. That's kind of my favorite thing to say is let's we're just gonna learn about it together.  And then they can have it on their plate or something I like to call a learning plate on the table that's there if they're not ready to have it on their plate yet.  And then you're gonna model, you know, maybe you paint your face.

38:28
with hummus, like you're gonna get crazy, okay? You're gonna take the broccoli and you're gonna stick it in tomato sauce and you're gonna paint your plate. And I think the biggest thing too is recognizing a child's not gonna go from seeing a new food to eating it all in one sitting most of the time. Sometimes there are kids that do that. It usually takes more time. And so getting them feeling

38:56
positive and having a positive interaction with that food is going to be your first step in getting them to actually eating those foods. Those are some really good ideas. I feel like just getting them introduced to a food is, you know, it's something that I need to be doing, but it's also like most of time I just make them a preferred food like chicken nuggets and  macaroni and cheese because I know they'll eat it and I won't have to fight them for it.

39:24
Well, it's important to have those like safe foods there so that they know that they don't feel that pressure um and their anxiety doesn't start to rise about it. So again, you want a positive environment around mealtime, but doing your snack dinners and then just having, you know, something new there.  And then they know, okay, I have the cheese, I have the meat, I have the crackers, I have the cut, whatever it is, like I'm good.

39:51
I don't have to eat this, but if you rephrase it where it's like, well, let's learn about it. Like, I wonder what it feels like if I brush my face with this piece of broccoli or whatever it is. I keep pulling out broccoli because it's like, you yeah, well, no, a lot of kids. Yeah. All right. Big fans of broccoli. Um, but yeah, thinking of how you can make it playful so that the next time they see it, they're like, oh, I remember that I'm going to do something else with it. And then maybe they take it to the next step. Maybe they like brush their teeth with it.

40:21
or  whatever it might be. We're working towards getting it closer to the mouth. then eventually,  kids are so curious. Their curiosity will take over. And that's what we want. We want that intrinsic motivation to want to try new foods like your son has. That's how we do it, is we give them those positive feelings about that food and about meal time.

40:47
Awesome. So do you recommend like serving the new food alongside the safe food? Yeah, small amounts. Like you don't want to overwhelm them.  But one thing that I really like to do is family style serving. It doesn't have to be anything crazy. Like no one's getting out their platters, right?  We're talking, you put the pot that you cooked it in on the table. uh Again, that gives kids that autonomy that they so,  you know,  desire and they're

41:16
far more likely to want to engage or something if they get to choose, okay, I'm only gonna put this like that tiny piece of broccoli  at the bottom of the bag. Like that's the one I'm gonna put on my plate. Great. Like win, right? Yeah. If the broccoli makes it to the plate, that  is a win.  Sometimes that's all you're going for.  And then the next time maybe you try for something else, but sometimes it's just getting it in their vicinity. Awesome.

41:45
And then we have time for one more question. And this one comes from the Modern Mom Mailbag.  This is from Alice in Florida. And she says, what is one part of your daily routine that you never skip no matter how busy you are?  I need more routines. I follow you and I need to implement your routines. I'm, it's like what I strive to do is have these routines and I never, it never happens.

42:14
I would say, you know, I've been really trying to like get to, I do bar workouts, like  a bar workout class in the mornings.  This week I was solo parenting for several of the days, so I couldn't get there. And then I go into like a tailspin, I need to get back on track. But I guess, I guess that would be it. But no, I need more routines. teach, Caroline, teach us your ways. What are your routines?  So  my routines were literally,

42:44
born from the fact that  I am naturally the least organized person on this planet. Like I have ADHD.  I, if left my own devices, I would be as feral as they come.  But I have three kids  and a home and a dog and a husband.  And  I attempt to have a life outside of all that as well. And I realized that I needed to kind of  buckle down and

43:12
make myself more type A in order to have everything happen simultaneously.  So much to my chagrin, I needed to become  type A.  I like to call myself type B plus because I'm type B, but I'm trying. I think it's awesome that you go to bar classes that is, I love going to bar and Pilates, like those are my favorite kind only workout that I actually enjoy. Me too,  me too. Especially because some of it's done lying down and like any

43:41
any workout where I'm also laying down,  sign me up.  When exercise is a part of my routine and I find myself solo parenting,  one of the ways that I like to keep it in my routine is by just doing like a five minute video on YouTube before my kids wake up just so that I can say I still did it.  Cause a lot of times I find when you lose the routine, it's hard to get started on it again. m

44:09
So like when my husband would come back and I'd be like, oh, well, I can go to a class today.  It's like, well, I haven't been in three days. Like what's another day? Like I'd rather do something else.  Yeah.  That's sleep. I'd rather sleep. Yes.  But my favorite part of my daily routine, this is going to sound really cheesy,  but when I put the kids to bed at night, we watch a show that like we only watch together.

44:36
And right now we're watching Modern Family and like we watch a show from the very beginning all the way through to the very end before we move on to a new show. I didn't realize how long Modern Family is. Thankfully, it's like the funniest show I've ever seen. But because I'd only seen it like here and there on cable, but it's very There's a lot of episodes. There are a lot of episodes and I think we're only like halfway through. But the part of my routine that I can't skip is doing laundry. I probably do.

45:04
a load of laundry at least every day.  And the hardest part about it is the folding and putting away. Like I can put it in the machine all day long, but  the actual putting it away.

45:18
I even struggle putting it from machine to machine. I'll get it into the washer and I'll start it. But then it's like, I forget that I put it in there. And then it's the next day and I'm like, oh, I should probably run that again. Yeah, we were looking at new dryers and  they were all like, oh, this one has Wi-Fi. And I'm like, who needs a dryer with Wi-Fi?  And then I was like, you know what, if it could text me and tell me it was done,  maybe I'd get my laundry done.

45:48
But no, we didn't get a Wi-Fi dryer and just have to set a timer or something.  My husband does. He does most of the folding  or my dad will come over and my dad  will oftentimes fold our laundry. Just so that is one part that I often don't have to do  because I don't mind putting it away because I'm very particular about how it goes in the drawers. And that's a me thing. I don't expect anybody else to like like when my kids ruin it. I'm like.

46:16
I can't expect a four-year-old to like, know, Marie Kondo,  their shirt drawer.  Yeah, that's awesome though. I love that.  if you have a- them undo it. Yeah, absolutely. They wear the clothes.  Yeah, exactly.  So if you have a question for the Modern Mom mailbag, you can DM me on Instagram at the Modern Mom pod  or at caroline underscore detman,  or you can send me a text.

46:44
At the top of the show notes from this episode, there is a link that says, us a text.  If you tap it, it will open in your messaging app and you can send me your thoughts and questions.  And I would love to include them on a future episode. It's a fancy new feature.  That's really cool. Yeah. that is our show today. I would like to thank Liz for joining us, Liz.

47:09
Liz, where can they find you for more? So you can follow me on Instagram. It's just at The Feeding Academy.  I also have a sub stack  and there's a link in my Instagram, but my sub stack is called The Beige Plate Club. And  yeah, that's kind of the best places to find me. And I hope that I can help some of you kind of get back  your meal times to feeling fun.

47:35
Absolutely. I will have all of Liz's links in the show notes as well. And as always, don't forget to follow, rate, and review The Modern Mom wherever you are listening today. It helps more moms find our community and learn tips and tricks from fantastic guests like Liz. Thanks so much for joining Thanks for having me. This was fun.