How to have a stress-free family meal
The Food Chain
BBC
4.7 • 545 Ratings
🗓️ 26 March 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Are your family meals calm and connected?
Or have they become dominated by battles with fussy kids or awkward teens?
Mum-of-one Ruth Alexander gets advice from experts who share the secrets to taking the stress out of family dinner and how to cope with fussy eaters. She finds out how we can make the table a place everyone wants to be at, tots, teens and adults alike.
Produced by Lexy O'Connor and Rumella Dasgupta.
Image: A small angry boy with blonde hair is holding a bowl of food and threatening to tip it on the floor as his parents' hands reach out to stop him. Credit:Getty/ skynesher
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | An early start here. It's time to kick off. |
| 0:10.0 | Your day. Morning! |
| 0:11.9 | What a line-up. |
| 0:13.3 | Oh, thanks very much. We do get some great guests on the show. |
| 0:16.1 | The crowd is loving this. |
| 0:18.3 | Thanks, guys. Thank you. Too kind. |
| 0:20.2 | From morning chaos to match day commentary. |
| 0:23.6 | And everything in between. |
| 0:25.0 | BBC sounds packed with personality. |
| 0:30.1 | The other week I was sitting down to dinner with my family. |
| 0:33.4 | Salmon with lime, butter, coriander and rice. |
| 0:36.1 | One of my favourites. |
| 0:37.5 | Not one of my five-year-old's favourites. |
| 0:40.0 | He usually needs a bit of coaxing, |
| 0:42.4 | but this time he refused, dug his heels right in. |
| 0:46.6 | And then I did too. |
| 0:47.9 | It wasn't good. |
| 0:49.5 | I was telling my producer about it afterwards. |
| 0:51.4 | She's a mother to teenagers, |
| 0:52.5 | so been there, done that, I thought. |
| 0:54.8 | Perhaps she'll have some advice. Instead, Lexi told me what she has is a list on her phone |
... |
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