Family mealtimes should be fun, sociable affairs, full of laughter and a way to reconnect after a busy day or week. Instead they’re all too often an upsetting time for both carers and children.

Maybe your child refuses to eat anything other than fish fingers or has a meltdown at the suggestion of eating a pea. But even if you don’t have a fussy eater, the unpredictability of children’s eating behaviours can be stressful enough.

On Saturday 15 June from 11am-1pm, I’ll be hosting my ‘Stress-free family mealtimes’ event at the Sundial Kitchen on North Street, as part of the Bristol Food Connections festival.

We’ll explore why mealtimes can be a battle ground, understand how we learn to eat, share some ideas of meals that can be enjoyed by all the family, teach you some winning tactics to make mealtimes easier and to get your children eating a wider variety of foods.

Whilst I have personal experience of dealing with a picky eater, have done a lot of research and tested different approaches to mealtimes with my own children, the words of an expert in the field are invaluable and hopefully reassuring. So, I’ll be joined by Dr Elizabeth Roberts, a paediatric dietician, and author of the soon to be published book When your Child Refuses to Eat.

I’ll be showing you how to incorporate the ideas we’ll give you into your weekly menus with an introduction to meal planning. And, what better way to end the session than to share lunch and put into practice what you’ve been learning?

Go now to buy your ticket!