A parent’s guide to stress-free festive eating with children

Laura Matthews, registered food nutritionist and early years expert, knows that keeping stress-free during the festive season is important, so she has put together this guide for us, sharing simple and practical tips to keep festive eating relaxed, balanced and enjoyable for all.  

The festive season is a time for celebration, connection and – let’s be honest – a lot of food. For parents of young children, it can also bring worry. How do you handle all the chocolate and sugary foods without it becoming a battle? What if your child refuses to eat their Christmas dinner? And is it okay to let routines slip?

The good news: with a few simple approaches, you can take the pressure off mealtimes and help your child enjoy a happy, healthy Christmas – without the stress.

Why children’s eating changes over winter

Before we dive in, it helps to know that food refusal is completely normal during the winter months. Children’s appetites naturally go up and down, and during the festive period there are extra factors at play:

• Routines are disrupted
• There’s lots of excitement and distraction
• Sleep patterns may be affected
• Children are often less active
• Illnesses are more common

If your child seems less interested in food than usual, it’s not you – and it’s not a problem to fix. Appetites fluctuate, and that’s okay.

Navigating chocolate, sweets and sugary foods

From advent calendars to selection boxes, chocolate and sweets are everywhere at Christmas. It’s natural to worry about how much your child is eating – but the way we talk about and handle these foods matters more than the foods themselves.

Here are three things to remember about children and food over winter:

• You’re still in charge of structure. You decide what’s offered and when in your home – and that looks different for every family. Do what works for you without overthinking it.
• Serve it alongside other foods. Rather than making chocolate a separate event, try offering it alongside a snack from another food group. This helps children see all foods as part of normal eating.
• Let them eat and enjoy. When you do offer chocolate or sweets, keep your tone relaxed and let your child enjoy them without guilt or commentary. Restriction and negative language can make these foods feel more exciting and desirable.

A helpful phrase to remember: remove the language, not the food. Avoid labelling foods as “good” or “bad”, “healthy” or “unhealthy”, or calling them “treats”. Simply call food by its name – chocolate, biscuits, pudding – and keep your tone relaxed.

If your child gets excited about their advent calendar chocolate each morning, that doesn’t mean they’re “obsessed” or “addicted”. It means they’re a child who likes chocolate – and that’s completely normal.

Christmas Day: managing expectations

Let’s talk about the big day itself. Many parents picture their child tucking into turkey with all the trimmings. The reality? Often a few peas, a roast potato and straight to the pudding.

This is normal. Christmas dinner is a lot for young children – unfamiliar foods, different textures, a busy table, excitement in the air. Lower your expectations and you’ll lower your stress.

Tips for a relaxed Christmas meal:

• Start with a good breakfast. A balanced breakfast sets children up well and takes the pressure off lunch.
• Offer food regularly. For toddlers, aim for every two to three hours. Be flexible – if the routine goes a bit off track, don’t worry.
• Include some familiar foods. Alongside the Christmas dishes, make sure there’s something on the table you know your child will eat.
• Don’t force, coax or count bites. When we say things like “just one more bite” or “you can’t have pudding until you’ve finished”, we’re trying to do our child’s job for them. Your job is to offer the food. Their job is to decide whether to eat it and how much.
• Avoid comparing your child to others. Every child is different. What their cousin or sibling eats is irrelevant.
• Let them serve themselves. Where safe to do so, letting children help themselves from serving dishes builds independence and gives them control over their plate.
• Remember it’s just one day. One meal – even one week – won’t undo months of good habits. Keep perspective.

Festive food activities that take the pressure off

Involving children in food-related activities – beyond just eating – can help them feel more comfortable around new foods. Christmas is a perfect opportunity for this.

Ideas to try:

• Colour-in placemats. Print or buy festive placemats for children to decorate before the meal. It gives them something to focus on and makes the table feel special.
• Cooking together. Let children help with Christmas biscuits or cakes. Even small tasks like pressing cutters into dough, stirring mixtures or adding decorations count.
• Table setting. Children can help lay the table – putting out napkins, crackers, or handmade place name cards.
• Kitchen jobs. Washing vegetables, picking herbs, carrying things to the table – these small jobs help children feel involved without any pressure to eat.

The goal is to build positive associations with food and mealtimes, not to trick children into eating. Keep it fun and low-pressure.

Keeping routines (loosely)

It’s tempting to throw all routines out of the window over Christmas – and some flexibility is fine. But keeping a loose structure around mealtimes can actually help children feel more settled.

Try to:

• Offer meals and snacks at roughly similar times each day
• Keep mealtimes at the table where possible
• Avoid grazing all day on snacks

This doesn’t mean being rigid. If lunch is later than usual or tea is simpler than usual, that’s okay. A gentle rhythm helps children know what to expect, which can reduce fussiness and meltdowns.

The bigger picture

Christmas is a wonderful time to enjoy food together as a family. The best gift you can give your child is a relaxed, pressure-free approach to eating – not just over the holidays, but all year round.

So this Christmas, take a breath. Offer good food, keep mealtimes calm, and let your child lead the way. They’ll be just fine – and so will you.

Written by Laura Matthews, Registered Nutritionist (RNutr), on behalf of Partou.