Fussiness about food is a normal part of child development. Young children are naturally neophobic — they have a distrust of the new. Even the most determined parents can be cowed by a child’s resolve to eat nothing rather than try something new. As a result, parents often give in, deciding that a bowl of Cocoa Puffs or a Pop-Tart, while not ideal, must be better than no food at all.
Its a parents JOB to to serve a variety of healthy foods and get their children exposed to foods.
Today I made firm tofu fried in some olive oil & soy sauce with onions and asparagus (all fresh but I decided last minute against the mushrooms, thought I had better nor push it).
After years with the 10 yr old and 6 yr old they have moved into a new place of acceptance with healthy foods mom makes. The 4 yr old fell asleep crying not eating one bite and woke up 2 hours later asking for her popsicle. I WILL NOT CAVE (ugh! this is hard! I am tired by now! summer needs to end August).
The 6 and 10 yr old ate 3 squares of tofu and 6 pieces of asparagus. Did I then let them have a popsicle? Am I THAT BAD MOMMY who rewards healthy choices.....YES I AM AND YES I DID. This was a summer day lunch and I am happy with the results. It was a small popsicle.
3 things I DEEM VERY important in trying to be successful at feeding your kids:
(please note successful is a very wide range like 1 fruit and 1 veggie a day can be success for some where as others like my healthy granola friend Leslie who manages to get more fruit and veggies into her kids than humanly possible in one day).
1. I do NOT make my kids "clean their plate"
2. I do bring them to the store and ask them "what fruit do you want what veggie do you want" and I BUY what ever they want.
3. I do let them help me prepare food or when ever possible let them prepare it themselves.
I do love this book my other bestie TONYA gave me.
I must admit thanks to TONYA and LESLIE I now serve all whole wheat pasta to the girls, rice is half brown half white now (we started out with the pasta that way too).
We have always only served the highest quality whole wheat bread.
We choose as many organic products as financially possible, we shop locally and try to buy the food stuff closest to home.
We limit (we DO buy whole grain gold fish, mini wheats, cinnamon life cereal, and all natural ice cream) the "processed foods" and we strongly avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup...
No comments:
Post a Comment