my meals chart {free printable}

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My son has gotten into the “I want food all the time” stage. While I don’t want to ever let him go hungry, I do want him to stick with a normal meal schedule. While I had been sticking with breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in between — he didn’t seem to “get” why he couldn’t have another snack or another snack or “I want this now!!”

I thought a meal-chart would help him visualize the day. And so far (it has been about four weeks) it has WORKED! I made a cute and easy chart with the words and some pictures of some food we eat during the day. I thought the pictures mights be a problem, as if I was “locked into” what the picture was for that particular meal-time, but so far, he has understood that it is just an example of what he could have.

Our other big hurdles that this chart has helped with are: 1) having his cup of milk before any juice for the day, 2) morning snack is a choice between an apple and a banana (or other fruit), and 3) (only!) two rice cakes a day. (Rice cakes are like candy to him — we are gluten-free over here, so I am thankful for this crunchy, salty snack for him.)

The chart is very simple, it is on our refrigerator with a magnetic clip, and it is laminated with little Velcro dots next to each meal. The stars are for if he had good behavior while sitting at the table — he can have either a sticker or play with a special toy, depending on his mood! We simply move the “It’s time for” piece up and down.

I know you may have different eating choices in your family, but I thought I’d provide my chart as a download in case you were interested in using it too.