Det sociala samspelets inverkan vid matbordet : En kvalitativ studie hur det sociala samspelet vid matbordet inverkar på barnens val av en varierad kost.

Sammanfattning: Abstract The purpose of the study is to contribute with knowledge of how the social interaction around the dining table affects the children's choice of a varied diet at preschool. To limit the study, the focus has been on a specific meal at the preschool, the specific meal being the lunch. The study expectation is to contribute knowledge to preschool teachers about how encouragement, norms and children affect the meal. The study has been based on a socio-cultural perspective and the method choice has been of a qualitative nature. Two different preschools have been observed to collect data to analyse. There are two preschool teachers and six children in the study. The purpose of the observations has been to discern how social interaction has affected the children's choice of a varied diet. The results of the study have shown that preschool teachers play a big role at the dinner table. Preschool teachers influence the children in their choice of the food that is on the table, as they uphold the standards that exist and that they challenge the children to dare to taste the food that has been developed. The result depicts that the preschool teachers had an encouraging and positive attitude towards the food served, but the result also shows how the preschool teachers used power as a tool to convey and maintain standards around the meal. There was never any compulsion from the preschool teachers that the children had to eat what was on the plate, but the atmosphere around the table was very permissive and encouraging. The results also showed that the children had a certain impact on each other, both positively and negatively.