I always thought I would be the kind of mother who's kids would be great eaters - adventurous, open, copious. Yeah, no. My kids eat like five things. Mostly because I make them like five things. Mostly because when I put out the effort to create thoughtful, balanced meals of new foods, they are roundly rejected. I know this doesn't matter and you need to keep trying. But night after night of that, throwing your creations down the garbage disposal while your children go to bed hungry (and the older one is so thin he can still wear 2T pants, just as capris) is just too much. So I fall back on the hits. Egg sandwiches. Soy sausages wrapped In tortillas with cheese. Quesadillas. In other words, nothing healthy. At all. It sucks, and I don't know what to do other than to keep introducing new things and throwing them down the garbage disposal untouched.
I can see why our parents made us sit at the table until our plates were clean. I guarantee you if I tried this tactic, however, that Bobby would win. Oh, he would win.
In other news, both kiddos on the mend and back in school this week so I've been getting a lot done. I am preparing to dj a swing dance tomorrow for the first time from my computer and not CDs (God help me) and am prepping for my trip to DC weekend after this one.
I am a bit worried about all my upcoming travel. I have a weekend away just about every three weeks until my event in Sept. I'm happy to do it but am worried how the kids will handle it now that they're older. Fingers crossed it'll be ok.
My son only ate 5 or 6 foods until he turned 14 or 15. Then his taste buds woke up. At 19 he's eating like a normal person for the most part. Pizza is still his favorite food and he doesn't love veggies but he does eat them now. I refused to fight the food battle with him when he was little, like Bobby, he would have won. I worked full time and was determined to enjoy the time we had together. If he wanted pizza for dinner then he got the best organic pizza Whole Foods could offer. I just wasn't going to fight about food. He turned out ok if I do say so myself ;)
ReplyDeleteI always have a healthy no-cooking-required backup ready for the nights Felix doesn't want whatever new food I made. He gets whole grain crackers and yogurt, or half a peanut butter sandwich and milk. I definitely understand the sadness that goes down the drain with an untouched meal n
ReplyDeleteHa! My daughter would win, too! All you can do is keep offering. OR I just make some and eat it in front of her and act like I don't want her to have it or care if she has it. Magically, she'll often want some! Also, I keep a drawer and bin in the fridge with options that are all ok with me, like applesauce, fruit, celery sticks, yogurt, etc so if she whines that she's hungry I tell her to go find something from there.
ReplyDeleteMy kid is the SAME damn way about food. So she *also* eats only five things: chicken noodle soup (just doesn't eat the chicken), tortilla with peanut butter slathered on it, peanut butter toast, hummus, broccoli and oh - maybe more than 5. Because she also eats fish sticks. Reallllly healthy, eh?
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