Tonight I had a struggle. My husband made a wonderful roast in the Crockpot and then I could not get my kids to decide to eat it. For some reason pizza goldfish sounded better to them. So finally, I told my son we were having Angry Bird nests and he got really excited. I put some shredded roast on top of a nest of rice and threw a few green bean “pigs” nearby and he ate his food right up. Amazing what a fun name can do. And, for dessert they just asked for popcorn. I was ok with that…better than pizza gold fish tonight.
I’m pretty sure she is way too cute to try and force her to eat and get mad. She needs the calories like any growing kid, but she just gives me “the look” and it’s easy to want to give her and her brother Oreos instead of food (thanks for that one dad!)
So I did a little research from the experts and here is what I came up with.
Web MD has a great article about what to expect from your child at mealtimes and answers some of those questions we all seem to have.
Picky Eater battles at meals are also discussed here
What else have I found that works? Have them take as many bites as their age. My 4-year-old will often end up taking a lot more. Sometimes he just assumes he doesn’t like something and once he takes a few bites he realizes it was ok. If they’ll let you, feed it to them. For whatever reason, my kids sometimes are lazy and if I get them started on a bite, they’ll eat the rest on their own. Sit down with them and don’t go to the next course (dessert) until they are all done. Once eyes are on dessert, no one will focus on the meal. My husband tends to be a horrible offender of that one! I also like to let the kids help in mealtime, whether it be picking out the food or helping me make it, it always seems to go down better if they are involved. And, make mealtime focused on mealtime. Don’t have the TV on, and make sure you all sit down as a family.
Am I perfect at all of these things? No, but we keep trying and eventually when they’re hungry, my kids just tend to eat!
No comments:
Post a Comment