The Love it, Like it, Learning it® Academy is an online group coaching program to teach you as the parent the secrets and steps to helping your child learn to like new foods.
The tension of bribing and pleading for your child to eat?
What to do when your toddler starts to show signs of pickiness?
The underlying reasons why your child refuses so many foods?
If your child will ever branch out to eat new foods without being forced to?
What you say (or not to say) when you are battling with your kids over food?
How to handle it when you child is “on a kick” without only offering that same foods over and over again?
What to do so you don’t feel like you have to make your child something different than the rest of the family?
What if your child…
Was open to try many foods s/he previously wouldn’t touch?
Gradually expanded her/his palate to eat from a variety of foods from each food group?
Could eat from whatever food was offered to the rest of the family (without something separate being made)?
Learned to like foods s/he previously couldn’t even tolerate on the table?
Ate when they were hungry, stopped when they were full, and didn’t throw a fit in between meals and snacks?
What if you as the parent…
Could reduce the stress of creating individual meals and take away the tension at meal times?
Were able to address picky eating early on when your child first starting to show signs of pickiness?
Understood the fundamentals to feeding in a way that made how to feed your child finally “click”?
Had the knowledge and confidence needed to help your children become better eaters?
Helped your child try different foods without any bribery or pressure?
"This program far exceeded my expectations. Ashley is so kind, supportive, and non-judgmental; she normalized just about every single thing we brought up, and she encouraged us to make small, manageable changes that would lead to new habits in the future. And she was right! My son has responded so well to everything she has set out for us. While I now there is still a long road ahead, I now truly feel like I have a road map for where I'm going!"
- Karson M., mom of 4 year old boy
When you join The Academy, you discover how to creatively come up with menu ideas that the whole family can enjoy and confidently offer such meals without wondering if there is something your kid can eat being offered. You can experience the transformation from tense to enjoyable time together at the table, while helping your child develop a healthy relationship with all foods.
You’ll acknowledge what your family’s current beliefs and attitudes are towards feeding, including which ones are most holding you back from seeing progress (including the counter-intuitive ones!)
You’ll learn the steps to turn your meal times into a pleasant, productive place
You’ll create structures and routines that support your child’s age-appropriate developmental and nutritional needs and eliminate the constant snacking or short-order cooking
You’ll easily be able to find out exactly where your child is at in their picky eating, if it is problem feeding, and how to help them make ongoing progress in accepting new foods
You’ll be able to easily assess how to handle hard situations that arise at the table if/when your child doesn’t eat or pushes back to what’s offered (examples + scripts included!)
You’ll do a deep dive into a proven system to grow your child’s list of preferred foods
You’ll know how to expand your child’s diet based on their unique nutritional needs and feeding style
And most importantly…
Find a community of parents in similar situations as you + get support like never before... a place to get ALL your questions answered without any judgement.
Due to the dynamics of life over the past year for families around the globe, the live Academy option is currently on pause and being replaced with the discounted, self-paced on-demand option. This gives you all the same access to course content materials and past Q&A recordings but allows you to work through it at your own pace.
Tap any of the following questions to learn more…
The Love it, Like it, Learning it® Academy is an online group coaching program for parenting who are struggling with feeding “apprehensive” (i.e. picky) eaters. The program contains eight comprehensive modules to walk you through a step by step blueprint to experiencing less meal time stress and ultimately more feeding success.
For more information on what is covered in the Academy, you can see a summary of each week’s content here.
Anyone who signs up for either The Academy On Demand or The Academy LIVE, you will have access to the same overall course material.
This includes:
You also get these bonuses when you sign up:
The Academy was created as an online group coaching program geared towards families with apprehensive eaters. Now after almost two years of offering this program live, The Academy is available in two formats: live and on demand.
The Academy LIVE
This is Ashley’s flagship program. With hundreds of family’s having gone through the group coaching program in this format, families can argue for the transformation that comes when you work through each of the modules step by step and have both Ashley and a community of like-minded parents to support you. The Academy LIVE is only run three times a year, as Ashley paces it to best support the families as they work through the material. This option provides you with the most accountability and support, as you get Ashley’s ongoing in-person advice (via weekly live Q&As, internal messaging, and the private Facebook group) and access to other families in similar situations.
Families are encouraged to try to keep up on the modules at the pace outlined for the group (spanning 10 weeks total between an Intro week to get everyone comfortable with the platform and process, four weeks of modules, a break week to catch up, and four final weeks of modules). This helps keep you accountable and working through any challenge areas while you have Ashley’s in-person support. For anyone who does fall behind or need to work at a slower pace, you continue to have access to all live Q&A recordings from your session and the private Facebook group.
For families who prefer to have more hand-holding and upfront access to Ashley, The Academy LIVE is the premiere program for you. This opens has historically opened 2-3 times a year; however, due to COVID constraints on everyone's lives, the live option is not currently available.
The Academy On Demand
Ashley saw a need to also make the Academy program available on demand for families who desired course materials outside of annual LIVE enrollment windows. This allows families the chance to work through The Academy at their own pace with the option to start immediately upon enrollment. While you are highly encouraged to work through all of the material in the order the modules are presented, this offers a more economical option for families who prefer the self-paced nature and don't need as much support.
Please note: The Academy On Demand does not provide access to the live weekly Q&As nor the private Facebook group. These are premium services that provide additional access to Ashley available only to those families who value working through the steps of The Academy LIVE with Ashley. However, these resources have been recorded and provided for you to listen into at your leisure from past live sessions.
You can sign up for The Academy On Demand here.
The Academy LIVE is not currently running. The Academy on demand costs $299.
Your satisfaction is also GAURANTEED! That's right. Ashley offers a 60 day money back guarantee. If you get into The Academy, can show you did the work from all of the modules, and still don't feel like its a good fit for your family or got you the results you were hoping for, let Ashley know, and she'll give you a refund! (For reference, there has yet to be a return in over three years of running this program!)
Unlike a simple "How to Help Picky Eaters" blog post or a high-level, low-impact webinar, both formats of The Academy offer you one of the most comprehensive approaches to establishing healthy habits for your family available.
Valued at over $1500 in private consultation costs, Ashley holds nothing back from Academy families. She has put all the pillars to helping families of picky eaters into over 12 hours of in-depth, expert trainings. These are broken down into 1-2 hour's worth of recorded trainings to provide impactful, action-oriented information in every module.
Inside of The Academy, Ashley also gives you exclusive access to The Academy Notebook: your complete 70+ page guide to all the handouts, printables, templates, and tools that you also need to be successful in implementing the program. Valued at over $50, The Academy Notebook allows you to print out The Academy workbook, make notes, complete assigned tasks, and share what you are doing with other family members or caregivers.
For those in The Academy LIVE, you also have access to Ashley through the weekly live calls and private Facebook group for far less than it costs to reach her a single one-on-one counseling session (which starts at over $200 for the initial consultation package).
Lastly, your satisfaction is GAURANTEED! That's right. Ashley also offers a 60 day money back guarantee. If you get into The Academy, can show you did the work, and still don't feel like its a good fit for your family, let Ashley know, and she'll give you a refund!
Each module, you can see the estimated time allotment for the provided resources:
While families are not required to participate in or complete any of the above, each/all is highly encouraged so that you can tailor and apply the training to fit your unique family. Working through each of the resources provided will also help you to synthesize each week’s information, take action, ask relevant questions along the way, and ultimately experience the most growth and transformation during our time together. Since the Academy ON DEMAND is to be done at your own pace, you are encouraged to take as long as you need to work through each module before moving on to the next. This allows you time to achieve behavioral modification with more effectiveness and less overwhelm.
The Academy LIVE provides an additional one-hour per week for Live Q&A with Ashley as well. These sessions are optional, but many families find it helpful to talk through personal, specific scenarios with Ashley week after week and the support an accountability this offers them while working through the program. Families also value the opportunity to hear other's questions and chime in with their own for an interactive, group experience. Each Q&A is recorded for LIVE members to reference in the future. Additionally, The Academy LIVE offers unlimited access to Ashley and past content via the private Facebook group. This is not a required activity but rather intended to provide additional support, encouragement, and accountability to families who value the kind, empathetic nature of such an online community.
The Academy On Demand members will have access to past Q&A recordings (also one hour in length), but do not have weekly live Q&A calls nor access to the private Facebook community.
The Love it, Like it, Learning it® Academy is for parents who want expert advice on how to best feed their families.
Parents of this group are those who have found themselves:
In a feeding rut and repeatedly offering the same foods
Unsure of how to expand their child or family’s diet to include more variety
Stressed about what to offer at meal times and tired of their child(ren) turning down what is given for the family meal
Needing simple strategies and minimal effort ideas for meal planning
Searching for a framework that accommodates every member’s food preferences without catering or short-order cooking
Craving some control again in the kitchen with what, when, and where food is offered
Seeking clarity on how to handle common feeding struggles
Wanting to take a more proactive approach before feeding problems present
This group is for parents who want to be encouraged through practical advice and empowered to take action through evidenced-based practice. This group is also for parents who are ready to see the feeding dynamics in their family change and willing to do their part in that process
This group is not for parents who want to join a meal planning community full of involved recipes or adventurous meal ideas. This group values variety in the food offered, but does not offer an expansive daily list of meal ideas and focuses exclusively on dinners (at this time). This group is not for parents who are not able to both receive and extend empathy as it relates to a family’s feeding struggles. All parents in this group are welcomed with empathy, understood by both fellow parents and a pediatric dietitian alike, and accepted regardless of what feeding ages or stages they are seeking assistance with.
At the end of these eight modules, parents can expect to:
Have exposed their child to many new nutritious, balanced meal ideas that provide a springboard to offering other new, nourishing foods from.
Have gained ongoing practice in deciding what foods to offer, how to expand on their child’s known preferred foods, and overall increasing the nutritional variety in their family’s diet
Have learned what strategies and systems are most effective for family-friendly meal planning, so that they are more confident in how to make one meal for their family and comfortable in the fact that everyone enjoys at least some component of it
Be empowered in their role in the feeding relationship, while having a newfound peace of mind in how to respect their children’s role as well
Feel less stress with what to feed and more success with how to feed
Children (whose parents have gone through this program) will:
See how their unique food preferences have been acknowledged in a healthy, age-appropriate way
Come to and engage at the table with an age-appropriate understanding of expectations around eating and how food is offered
Approach a wider variety of food being offered as a matter of fact part of meal times
Gradually add new foods to their “love it” or “like it” lists, with greater tolerance and overall acceptance of those foods that they are still “learning to like”
Create healthier habits around eating that develop mature feeding skills for life
Families as a whole will experience:
A refreshed, more positive approach to meal times
Sharing food around the table foster togetherness
Ongoing growth in the feeding relationship for parents and children
A new outlook on feeding and eating as a family
By working through the action items in each module, parents will lay the foundation for transformation in their family week after week. By showing up watch each training, working through the homework, and applying the content provided, parents will learn directly from Ashley the key techniques to reducing meal time stress and improving feeding success. With each enrollment, you get the complete guidebook with cheatsheets, templates, and worksheets to help you accomplish this one step at a time (and to have on hand for future reference in your family's feeding journey)!
Take it from countless parent testimonials like those shared here.
““I always felt my son’s lack of interest in new foods as a fail on my part but after this course I have learned to be confident in myself and understand the roles of feeding responsibilities.””
“We went from a family that ate separately and limiting meals to only foods that we knew our daughter would like to eating as a family and seeing our daughter try many more foods than ever before. This approach has helped reduce the stress of creating individual meals and taken away the tension of bribing and pleading with our daughter to eat. Ashley’s direction, openness, and wealth of knowledge have helped us be much more confident that we are providing our daughter with a healthy start in life. Her attitude and openness were great. Ashley never seemed burdened or annoyed by any questions and really want to help, which made it easier to ask embarrassing questions and ease my mom guilt!””
“My son is literally scared to try new foods. Using this program has given us some tip and tricks to help ease him in to starting to conquer his food fears.
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“I appreciate how this program provides framework and practical steps for improving our family eating. I have three little kids, each with very different tastes, and I was pulling out my hair trying to make sure everyone was eating. I feel better equipped to not run our house like a restaurant anymore, but make sure everyone is fed. I have hope now, and a plan for how to guide my kids from refusing foods to being brave enough to try new things. I wanted to shout for joy when my pickiest kid picked up broccoli and actually licked it. That’s progress in only a few weeks. I look forward to having more peaceful, enjoyable family meal times.”
“I am so pleased with the progress I’ve seen with my 3 & 5 year old in our feeding journey after purchasing Ashley’s Love it, Like it, Learning it Program. Now, meal time is actually pleasant and I don’t have to stress about how much my kids are eating, or if they are getting the proper nutrition. Each week, Ashley sends a dietitian-approved dinner idea with recipe links and suggested modifications, lays out the framework on how to approach meal times, provides suggested scripts, answers questions and connects with you through video chat and an online community and so much more! Since I started this group, I had A LOT of “Learning it” foods for both my kids. Now, I’m struggling to find Learning it foods because most of these foods have turned into a Like it or Love it food for them. I am just amazed at how Ashley’s approach to food has made my kids more competent eaters. Now, they eat a variety of foods from all the food groups and Ashley has helped me to set up my kids for success for healthy nutrition habits that will last a lifetime!”
“Our family dinners are so much more fun now that we aren’t constantly negotiating how many more bites my boys have to take before they can be excused. ”
"I love Ashley's approach towards exposure. For meal times, I try to make sure I incorporate some of each category. Before Ashley's approach, it was easy to just give my daughter "love it foods," but I have since seen what Ashley's approach can do. My two year old daughter doesn't have to eat what I offer. She knows that, and it calms the eating experience so much! If she just eats her love it foods, then that's what she does. On her own though, she will put foods in her mouth she wouldn't previously touch. She may spit them out, but it's progress. I never would have realized how important this method is. Ashley's approach has saved me from a lot of heartache and meal time stress. Now, I always have some of each category on hand and understand how to best feed my daughter."
- Laura H., mom of 3 year old daughter
Join Ashley and other parents who share in your struggles and are ready to see your child's successes. With expert trainings, private access to Ashley, and exclusive client-only templates and toolkits, Ashley can help you turn around your family's approach to feeding so it is a non-issue and actually enjoyable again!
Yes, you can use this framework to make one meal for the whole family. In fact, that is part of its whole point! Take it from this mom of three from a previous Academy session, who shared:
"I appreciate how this program provides framework and practical steps for improving our family eating. I have three little kids, each with very different tastes, and I was pulling out my hair trying to make sure everyone was eating. I feel better equipped to not run our house like a restaurant anymore, but make sure everyone is fed. I have hope now, and a plan for how to guide my kids from refusing foods to being brave enough to try new things. I wanted to shout for joy when my pickiest kid picked up broccoli and actually licked it. That’s progress in only a few weeks. I look forward to having more peaceful, enjoyable family meal times."
Like this mom experienced, The Academy helps you apply best-practice feeding approaches across all ages, feeding stages, and food preferences so that no matter your family size or the extent of picky eaters you are managing in your home, you can calmly and confidently coordinate a single meal everyone learns to like.
First of all, congrats on expecting your sweet child soon (or recently!)! I totally understand asking about if and how this would fit, especially based on the obvious transition it will already be for your growing family!
Providing parents with accessible resources on their own time frame was also one of the key motivations to creating The Academy LIVE. This is a great option if you would like to try to tackle an older child's picky eating prior to the arrival of a sibling and can be started immediately by signing up here.
For those interested in the live option, I asked a mom from a previous Academy LIVE session if I could share her testimonial. I knew she was in similar shoes and yet valued the chance to get in-person support each week (as she often had her little one in view on our video calls!). She shared, "It’s actually perfect to do while on maternity leave with a second baby because I had that tiny bit of mental space without worrying about work to think only about my family, and my husband was home earlier than usual to allow for more family dinners. Plus it was ok to hold or nurse a baby during the calls, or have the option to catch up later."
This mom also emailed me after it was over to share this three month update:
"If you recall I had 3 goals foods that I wanted my 2.5 year old daughter to learn to like - peanut butter sandwiches, pasta, and grilled cheese. Almost 3 months later, PB sandwiches are part of our regular menu for her, and she's taken several bites of plain pasta (I wanted to throw a party the first time she actually tried it). Still working on the grilled cheese. Last night (which prompted me to email you), I was husking corn (learning it) and asked her to help me get the "hairs" off. She put it to her lips and I told her she could take a bite if she wanted, and she took several! Just goes to show if you keep working the framework, you will have random, unplanned breakthroughs that make it worth it to keep going and not just offer the same love it foods constantly."
Something that has come up with this mom and many others in the group (including doctors with crazy schedules, families amidst relocations and living out of boxes, etc.) is that there is never a "good time" to tackle picky eating. But the stress of trying to feed a child with apprehensive eating amidst those seasons can become exponentially harder, especially if/when you are trying to delegate what/when/where to feed your child often to someone who's say, not feeding a baby, or you are accepting meals that may or may not align with your child's preferred foods. By working through this approach for 8 weeks (and then on), you get to then launch into your postpartum window "ahead" versus later having to still tackle it 3, 6, 12 months later when the bad habits can be that much harder to break.
This mom went on to talk about how after the Academy, as she then got ready to introduce solids to this baby (who was almost 6 months by the time she sent me a 3 month follow up email), she felt that much more confident in how to feed her subsequent child because of all she had learned from the Academy with her first. This mom knew she wouldn't "repeat the same mistakes" so to speak and could more confidently handle feeding her family with both children being raised with a better feeding foundation now.
Yes, each menu can be modified for necessary food allergies. Ashley is happy to assist with this via one-on-one calls, as needed.
No, these meals include animal-based proteins. The framework and course could easily be done though with meatless substitutes, as the goal is for practice menues to be adaptable to a family's dietary needs and preferences. Ashley is happy to help advise parents through via one-on-one calls, as needed.
The Love it, Like it, Learning it Academy can give any parent and family the tools they need to be successful in planning, offering, and managing family meals. Parents of multiple children may benefit from being proactive instead of reactive when applying this approach for their family as a whole, including with younger children who parents might wish to "do differently with" when it comes to feeding. However, parents with a child younger than two years of age may find that some of the struggles and scenarios shared by fellow group members do not yet ring familiar to them. This information may still be useful to adding to a parent's feeding and nutrition toolbox however, particularly if a parent already sees signs of apprehensive eating (i.e. pickiness) presenting before age two. Please note that majority of Academy members are 18+ months, so majority of the advice is geared towards toddlers up to adolescence. The principles apply to all ages, but the manner in which such feeding principles are approached and communicated may vary with older or younger children.
There is no in-person meeting for the Academy. All of it is conducted online through pre-recorded trainings and/or live Q&A calls via zoom (for those in The Academy LIVE).
The Academy Summer session is being offered in place of the LIVE program. The Fall session of The Academy LIVE is currently scheduled to start on September 12th, 2020.
For members of The Academy LIVE, members get access to Ashley in a few forms. In the Facebook group, Ashley will be able to respond directly to each individual’s questions and posts on the public forum. There will also be a live Q&A each week for you to ask questions. If you feel you need additional one-on-one consulting, Ashley may be available for private one-on-one counseling sessions (for an additional charge).
Facebook is not required to participate in The Love it, Like it, Learning it Academy. However, having access to the private Facebook community will allow you to have a greater level of engagement, accountability, support, and opportunity to share your struggles and successes with other parents. This is where majority of the community support, camaraderie, and encouragement happens for those in the LIVE program, since it seems to be the platform most people prefer to post, comment, share, and overall interact on. However, all course materials are provided and accessible off of Facebook so you do not need to have Facebook to access course content if you choose not to.
As long as Ashley continues to host The Academy (LIVE or Summer Session), you will continue to have access to the course materials. Any updates to the program will also be made available to past Academy members.
With a paid membership to The Love it, Like it, Learning it Academy LIVE, you receive lifetime access to the private Facebook group.
“Our problem was that on the days he ate very little of what I prepared, I was constantly worried that he wasn't getting enough to eat (especially because he was already very low on the growth curves). This framework was the piece that we didn't know we were missing, which allows us to follow the Division of Responsibility without having to stress at all about whether they're eating enough, because there's always something we know they will eat if they're hungry. I truly can't say enough good things about the "love it, like it, learning it" concept!””
- Leah, mom of son and daughter
In order for each family to get the support they need and deserve, The Love it, Like it, Learning it Academy has a limited number of seats in each live session. Sign up now to enroll in the Self-Paced Summer Session NOW!
