Discussing the Division of Responsibility with Families

The Appetite to Play Recommendations and Training include feeding children using an approach called the Division of Responsibility, which is based on research done on the feeding relationship by Registered Dietitian, Ellyn Satter.

It can be a challenging concept for many adults to understand and put into practice because they may have experienced food and feeding in very different ways throughout their lives, with influence from family, food environment, culture and so much more.
The approach gives children the responsibility to decide IF and HOW MUCH they will eat which may make families and caregivers feel concern for the child’s wellbeing if meals or certain types of foods are refused. Concern over food waste may also be an experience that a caregiver has faced in other circumstances.

Child care providers may face questions from families about what foods their child has consumed or why certain foods are coming back home at the end of the day. They can share with families about the Division of Responsibility approach to feeding that allows the child to determine which foods and how much of them to eat. Although, as stated above, this may be a very new and challenging concept for many families based on their own feeding practices at home and throughout their lives.

The following points can be helpful in explaining the Division of Responsibility:

● Children’s appetites and their food preferences change from day to day.

● The recommendations and research show that pressuring children to eat does not result in them having a better intake or a positive relationship with food, but eating family meals does.

● Encourage families to eat meals together and focus on the activities of the day as conversation rather than food battles.

● Trust children to eat what their bodies need when they are regularly offered a variety of food in a neutral way.

● To minimize food waste, opt for family-style meals rather than plating everyone’s food for them.

● Allow children to choose which and how much of each food they would like or just give them a small serving of each.

● Conserve leftover food safely and offer it again at a future meal or snack.

For further support with this topic, for any families or caregivers, visit HealthLink BC and speak to a Registered Dietitian, Mon-Fri, 9-5 by calling 8-1-1 from anywhere in BC.