# 98 There's A Reason It's Called The Kids Menu.
I have to admit, before I had the Little Man I was one of those moms who would say things like, "my son is only going to eat what we eat, no "special" dinners for him." Or, "we are not going to give him processed food, ever." Or even better, I actually thought I was going to make my own baby food, until he was like 5. Oh, and the best was that we were going to raise him strictly as a vegetarian. Ha! Yeah, you all can guess how well any of that worked out.
Very early on I learned I neither had the backbone nor the patience to force the Little Man to eat anything other than what he wants to eat (within reason of course.) I know there are parents out there who can stand strong. I am not one of them. I simply cannot make him go to bed hungry, ever, for the following reasons.
- He is so active that he is already so skinny, I am convinced I need to fatten him up.
- If he goes to bed hungry he wakes up hungry, and early.
- I am convinced it is my job to feed him. There has to be something out there he likes and it is my mission to find it.
Really, the last thing I need is a skinny, tired, and hungry little man. Therefore, I am ashamed to say that I have almost completely given in when it comes to feeding time. Don't get me wrong, he's not eating cake and jellybeans for dinner (not often anyway.) But I have given into his desire for a lot of different items on his plate, most of which could be found on any kids menu at any chain restaurant. Most of which were at some point frozen and all are pretty much completely processed. Ugh. The only thing that gives me comfort is that the majority of items are still organic, and he still drinks 20oz of whole milk a day so I know he is getting some kind of nutritional value. Barely.
In the beginning I tried to keep things fresh, I really did, but he just gets so damn bored of the same thing (when I say the same, I mean anything served to him two nights in a row and within the same week.) He is constantly challenging me to find "new" things to feed him, and by challenging I mean throwing the old on the floor. He seriously waits in his chair and when I present him with his entree he looks it over like he is some kind of food critic at a 5 star restaurant. If I don't buy frozen, than everything would go to waste. The only thing I hate more than a skinny/tired kid, is watching food spoil. Therefore, this is what dinner has come to.
Exhibit A: Fish sticks, ketchup, sweet potato fries, peas, a mini pizza, and a waffle. Yep, that is whipped cream on top.
Exhibit B: The little man surveying the spread.
Exhibit C: Success! After this picture was taken he even finished the peas. The peas with salt and some butter of course. The car was not on the menu, but still found its way into the ketchup.
I have also learned that he will eat anything with ketchup (case in point the car.) We seriously go through about a bottle a week. In fact, this morning he was having cereal and blueberries on the side, and while eating the blueberries he said, "more ketchup." Yep, I gave it to him.....I think it's a fruit right?
Let's just hope he outgrows this before he gets married. I would hate to see what happens if his poor wife tries to serve him the same dinner two nights in a row...hopefully by then he will have learned not to throw his food on the ground. I'm pretty sure most women find this to be a turn off, no?
How do you all get your kids to eat healthy? Or do you?
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5 comments :
Um, so do you feed your hubby the same thing two nights in a row? Somehow I can sense that I know where these tantrums come from........
HE HE HE, just kidding gorgeous!!!!
Call me crazy (or a bad mommy) but I would argue that the only TERRIBLY terrible foods on that plate are the fish sticks, the ketchup and the whipped cream...and even then I could find a validation for the fish. He's got TWO veggies, a waffle and a pizza that has cheese, tomato sauce and what looks like some sort of meat.
Well-rounded if you ask me.
And I'm with you; I have neither the patience (which is really all that matters) nor the backbone to force my little precious to eat something she doesn't want to. Seriously, this is why multi-grain toast with cream cheese is her morning staple. The odd day she'll also down her pieces of fruit, but really it's about getting some fuel into that little body.
Ollie stopped eating dinner at 14 months - so we have now had over a year of him eating no dinner, have tried absolutely everything with no success. He will eat tinned spaghetti and fries and that is about it. So he just gets served what we eat and if he eats some good, if not I don't worry. Slowly he is starting to try a little bit of this and that which always gets celebrated. He eats tons during the day so I try not to stress too much, but its still frustrating nonetheless.
Even so a couple of weeks ago I posted that Ollie had cake for dinner.....some days its just whatever works!!
my nephew only ate goldfish crackers for about a year of his life. he is now almost four and has branched out to honey nut cheerios, cereal bars (organic, whole grain kind), and tostitos (there may be a few other items on his menu, but not many). he is huge (not fat huge, but tall and in perfect shape for his age), energetic, and happy. he always has a wide variety of food avail. to him, he just gets morally outraged if you suggest it. he's giving my mom a minor heart attack, but as long as he stays healthy.... what are you going to do? i think your lm is doing great - what was on his plate was better than what's on most!
bri
Shhhh. Ketchup's the magic ingredient in all my cooking. It finds it's way into almost everything. Thus, even without visible ketchup, Charlie eats everything I put before him and visiting dignitaries praise his excellent behaviour at table and I swell a little with pride and then see the ketchup bottle - open - on the table...
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