Jen,
I’ve gone crazy about this stuff as well and one thing I have decided is that as long as we continue to expose our children to good food we are doing o.k. Did you like vegetables as a child? I liked very few. Now I LOVE them. I make Catina PB&J or mac-n cheese but ask her to try something along with it. At our last doctors visit the doctor showed Catina this picture.
Between her exposure at preschool and the doctor she has
decided to try a few more things. Sometimes we need people outside us to
encourage them. As our kids grow older we can enforce things a bit more.
Catina isn’t allowed to eat after dinner. If she’s hungry she should’ve eaten what was presented. I do, however, always make sure there is at least one thing she will eat. That’s why we almost always have a piece of fruit as part of the meal. I also try to make sure she has limited snacks a couple hours before dinner. This way she is hungrier and may try something new. She also isn’t allowed to have dessert unless she eats the vegetables and protein. We don’t have dessert every night but she has had many a nights watching the rest of us eat a brownie because she didn’t eat her meal. Its tempting to not want to eat the brownie in front of her because it sounds mean but it does teach her to live with her choices. She has impressed quite a few of our friends by sitting quietly while we eat dessert having none for herself because she made the choice. We learned this from a Love & Logic conference we had gone to.
Another thing that has encouraged Catina to eat a better variety is allowing her to help me cook. She seems to eat more if she can help. There is a great website called http://www.weelicious.com/. It has been helpful as well. Having her help isn’t always the most convenient but if it works….
Catina is still not the greatest of eaters and its a constant struggle with her. A lot of my suggestions are for older children but know that your kids will be able to do these things before we know it. Crazy! We should create a link where we share the recipes our children love. Although they may love it for a few weeks and change their minds the next!
Ann
I’ve gone crazy about this stuff as well and one thing I have decided is that as long as we continue to expose our children to good food we are doing o.k. Did you like vegetables as a child? I liked very few. Now I LOVE them. I make Catina PB&J or mac-n cheese but ask her to try something along with it. At our last doctors visit the doctor showed Catina this picture.
Catina isn’t allowed to eat after dinner. If she’s hungry she should’ve eaten what was presented. I do, however, always make sure there is at least one thing she will eat. That’s why we almost always have a piece of fruit as part of the meal. I also try to make sure she has limited snacks a couple hours before dinner. This way she is hungrier and may try something new. She also isn’t allowed to have dessert unless she eats the vegetables and protein. We don’t have dessert every night but she has had many a nights watching the rest of us eat a brownie because she didn’t eat her meal. Its tempting to not want to eat the brownie in front of her because it sounds mean but it does teach her to live with her choices. She has impressed quite a few of our friends by sitting quietly while we eat dessert having none for herself because she made the choice. We learned this from a Love & Logic conference we had gone to.
Another thing that has encouraged Catina to eat a better variety is allowing her to help me cook. She seems to eat more if she can help. There is a great website called http://www.weelicious.com/. It has been helpful as well. Having her help isn’t always the most convenient but if it works….
Catina is still not the greatest of eaters and its a constant struggle with her. A lot of my suggestions are for older children but know that your kids will be able to do these things before we know it. Crazy! We should create a link where we share the recipes our children love. Although they may love it for a few weeks and change their minds the next!
Ann
