One of Mila and I’s favorite spring activities is having picnics! Not only is it great to tell her some food comes from the ground, it’s a perfect time to talk about food positivity.

By having a negative relationship with food growing up, I want Mila’s to be different.

The best ways for anyone to learn is by reading. “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle is in Mila’s top ten favorite. She loves seeing him transform into the butterfly and counting all the food he eats!

Since she’s familiar with the story, I wanted to build upon how she can use the caterpillars experience with her own.

After reading through the entire book, I went back to where the caterpillar ate all the food that gave him a tummy ache. I asked Mila if there’s foods that make her stomach feel funny. She told me when she eats certain candy her tummy feels upset and about all the food she doesn’t like.

It’s always eyeopening to have big conversations with such little humans. They know what makes them feel happy and sad. Then they’ll tell you all about it, which I just love.

She took out all the play food and plates in her picnic basket. We talked about the colors of the food and which ones we thought tasted best. Out of everything, she said the hotdog and cow milk was her favorite meal with ‘popcorn’ being a close second.

Then we tried to find the food the hungry caterpillar ate and help him make different choices so his stomach didn’t feel so sick.

I told her that listening to our bodies cues and knowing that we can eat different types of foods. There’s no such thing as bad food, but we have to make our bodies happy through our choices.

We ended up pretending to eat different types of meals and rereading the book many times. I plan on making different activities with it in the future too! But, it was a great way to open up on being food positive and listening to your body.

I can’t wait to have even more picnics with Mila and letting her try all different types of meals. Exploring foods and trying to persuade her not to be a picky eater will be a fun journey.

Let me know what your favorite picnic food is in the comments.