Picky Eaters

Want your kids to be more adventurous at dinner time?

Getting kids to eat different and new foods can be a challenge at times and  I am sure all parents will struggle with this at some point in their lives.  The struggle comes from not wanting to wage war during dinner time, forcing your child to eat or giving up entirely and letting the child eat whatever they want. I usually cook dinner most nights and I only cook one dinner.  I refuse to cook multiple meals to please every one's appetite, I mean if I wanted to be a short order cook, I would get a job at a restaurant. 

So how does one get their kids to eat without dinner time turning into a battle of the wits?  Here are some of the tips that really have helped me in helping my kids eat better and not be so picky.

1.  Don't disguise food.  Lately, it seems everything I read about raising healthy eaters involve some sort of trickery, disguising food so your child does not realize they're actually eating healthy.  This is a mistake; if you disguise everything to taste like chicken nuggets, you've only managed to enforce to your child that the only food they should like is chicken nuggets.  This could really backfire on you down the road.

2. You have to try everything every time.  We have a rule in our house:  You must try everything on your plate every time.  Just because they didn't like meatloaf the last time I served it, doesn't get them a free pass to not try it this time.  I realize that my kids are not going to like everything I make, they are real people with their own tastes and preferences, but they still have to try it.  When I say "try it", I mean one bite, not eat everything on their plate.  When serving a main dish that I know is not a favorite, I do try to serve side dishes that I do know they like.

3. Model good eating habits.  Since instituting rule #2, I have also applied the same rule to myself.  If I expect my children to follow this rule, so can I.  If you are not willing to eat the veggies how can you expect your kids to be excited about them?

4. Don't force kids to clean their plates.  I just do not like this idea as I feel it sends the wrong message about food. 

5. Deflect the attention away from the food. When my kids are about to try something they're less than thrilled about trying I ask a fun question right as they're taking the bite.  Engaging them in a conversation I know they'll be excited to talk about.  I find that if I can deflect the attention on something other than the food, they'll end up forgetting about what they're eating and finish most of it before they realize what happened.  I have found that if my husband or I make a big deal out of taking just that one bite and silently wait for a reaction we get a dramatic display of how terrible the food tasted. 

6. Make dinner time fun.  Create a fun dinner time atmosphere, where everyone tells funny stories, jokes and talks about their day.  My kids love to cook, so I try to find something for them to help with as I am preparing dinner and  they get more excited about the food, they "cooked" themselves.

Sending Sick Kids to School

Why do people love to bring their sick kids out in public?  This is something I will never understand.  Yes, I realize that sometimes kids get sick at the most inconvenient times like right as school is starting but that is not an excuse to keep them there.

Today as I dropped my son off at preschool, another mother was carrying her daughter into my son's classroom.  She stopped to chat with the woman I was talking to and mentioned her daughter was not feeling well today but that she was pretty sure it was just allergies causing her to be sick.  Fine, I'm thinking she probably just has a runny nose and cough, two ailments that don't require a kid to be quarantined at home.  Right as she was walking away though, the little girl happened to mention how she just threw up all over another kid!  The mom, who happens to be a teacher at the school, just sort of laughed it off and mentioned she was sure it was just the allergies again.

If your kid just threw up all over another kid at school, it's time to go home.  I was stunned into silence as I watched her walk into my son's class to drop off her sick daughter. 

Don't Be A Slave to Sleep Schedules

Don't let the fear of interrupting sleep schedules

keep you locked in your house!

After the birth of a baby, most of us will spend an insane amount of time trying to get that baby on some sort of schedule.  Trying everything in our power to ensure that the baby actually sleeps during the night and takes regular naps during the day.  Once the schedule has been set, the thought of actually disrupting that schedule may seem as appealing as stabbing a sharp knife through your hand.

That being said, you also don't want to live your life always navigating sleeping and eating schedules.  It is OK to skip a nap every so often or push bedtime back an hour or so to enjoy a family dinner or party with your kids.  Babies are resilient and will survive if nap time has to be adjusted every once in a while.   Trust me, if you try to plan every single event around nap and bedtime, you will pretty much count yourself out of any social event in your life for about 2 years or so. Not fun.

Just look at how much fun you can have during nap time: