Dinners- Do your kids eat what you cook or their own meal
I think I started a bad habit.
It was started over a yr ago when I worked nights, wasnt a sahm.
DH and DD ate together, but DH made DD her own plate, and him a plate.
Now I SAHM and cook (some nights, hah) We all eat together, but we make ourselves a plate and then DD had probibly 6-7 different dinners that we give her the option to pick from. Silly I know.
She is just turned 3 if that helps, siggy is off.
I have tried putting what we cook on her plate, but she eats around it to the items she is used to. Her items are Meat/Cheese/Fruit plate, Noodle Soup, Chicken Fingers, Grilled Cheese, Mac and Cheese, etc and we make sure she gets lots of veggies and fruit BUT we are essentially cooking 2 things every night.
She is a good eater, and when I put food from what we make she simply doesnt eat it or try it.
Re: Dinners- Do your kids eat what you cook or their own meal
Yeah, I'd say you started a bad habit. If it were me, I'd wean her off those choices and get to making one family meal per night. Nobody has time to make two dinners!
I always make sure there are 3 things on DD's plate - so even if we are having a one-pot meal I'll separate that into two options (noodles and sauce, meatballs on the side, plus a third thing for her like carrot sticks). That way there's usually at least one thing that she'll eat.
Other than that, I don't worry about it at all. Dinner has always been her smallest meal of the day and she'll often only eat a few bites. My job is to offer her a healthy assortment of foods, her job is to eat. I don't pester her to eat more, etc.
This is totally not related to the post, but what is that toy your DD is playing with? A Barbie pool or something? It looks awesome!
"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."
Miracle DD born 12.2005
TTC #2 since Dec 2008 w/ PCOS
***P/SAIF Always Welcome***
Keep it Natural, Baby!
Dang girl!
You're one accommodating Mamma!
No way in hell am I making multiple meals. We're just too busy and I want them to learn to eat what's offered.
Like Bright I do always try to include at least one thing that I know they'll eat easily. With new foods I do expect them to try at least 1 bite. None of that "I don't LIKE this" whining when they've never even let it touch their tongues.
At our house you get fruit for dessert if you make a happy plate. If you don't make a happy plate? Well... you'll be good and hungry for breakfast tomorrow, won't you!!
I think one thing that helped set us on this course was seeing a friend's daughter who had major food control issues. They started young fixing her hew own lean cuisine mac-n-cheese meals. That's pretty much all she ate. Now she's 10 and she literally will not eat anything else. When they go out to a restaurant the mom takes the lean cuisine meal with her and asks that they heat it for them or she has the daughter eat before they go. It got WAY out of control for them.
Total score: 6 pregnancies, 5 losses, 2 amazing blessings that I'm thankful for every single day.
Breaking the habit will be tough, but it doesn't sound like your DD is eating badly. We cook for DD in that we tailor our meals to what we know she'll eat, so: pasta w/ meat sauce, grilled meat or fish with raw veggies, pizza once a week. She'll also eat brown rice so we can do stir fry. We always have a ton of fruit and veggies every day, plus milk, yougurt, cheese and raw almonds (DD is 5.5) We just aren't eating enchiladas, chili or thai curry like we might otherwise.... =-(
Because your DD is a good eater, I'd keep doing what you are doing - offer what you are eating, but don't push, and don't sweat it if she ignores the new foods. At some point over the next few years I bet she'll try a few things. Kids tastes change so much at this point anyway. If you want to try simplifying in some ways, try making homemade oven baked chicken fingers on the same night you are baking chicken breasts for yourselves. Or make a noodle soup you and your DH will eat too. Would something like that make your lives easier? GL to you!
"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."
Miracle DD born 12.2005
TTC #2 since Dec 2008 w/ PCOS
***P/SAIF Always Welcome***
Keep it Natural, Baby!
I make one meal- but I may give them a different version of it. For example- my youngest does not eat red sauce. She has reflux and I think the acid hurts...so I am certainly not going to make her eat it. So if I make spaghetti and meatballs and pull hers out before adding the sauce. My girls are the worst at eating veggies, but I do put it on their plate and they must eat a "no, thank you bite". My oldest has been surprised several times that she liked it!! My middle.....well, she never likes it but at least she tries it
That being said- I used to do the same as you. Basically because my girls ate early because they went to bed at 6:30 and it was too early for me to get a whole meal together. It took me a while to break them off chicken nuggets, mac n cheese, etc but mealtime has been quite pleasant lately!! Having them help me cook has improved their eating habits.
Yep, very bad habit. My nephew is like that and he is now a picky eater. It's my Mom's fault, which is funny cause my parents always told us "You eat what I make or starve."
That's how I run my house. They eat what I put in front of them, or they go to bed hungry. Period. The only time we cater to each is when DH is griling in the summer time. Cause it's not a big deal. But in the fall and winter I cook 95% of the meals and they eat or go hungry.
It sounds like you did what you needed to do when you were working but now it's jamming you up. I agree with Bright - offer at least one thing that you know she will eat and just keep exposing her to the rest of it.
I will tell you, cooking special meals for one child is do-able but time consuming. With multiple children you could very well end up cooking three or four different meals each night. STOP THE MADNESS before it reaches that stage.
Just last night my boys did not want what we were eating. If they really don't want it or won't eat it they are offered fruit and yogurt as an alternative but nothing else. We also have a rule that you have to taste something before you declare that you don't like it. We've told them that whatever it is that's new could end up being their favorite food ever but they just don't know it yet! That usually works to get at least one bite in them.
It's tough and will take some time but I think you can remedy this. Good luck!
My twins are 5! My baby is 3!
DS#2 - Allergic to Cashew, Pistachio, Kiwi
DS#3 - Allergic to Milk, Egg, Peanut, Tree Nuts and Sesame
My 5 year old LOVES enchiladas and chili! We just put hers aside before adding more spice. Try it
DD -- 5YO
DS -- 3YO
My kids are offered whatever I'm cooking, with the exception with one or two things each they don't and never did eat (DD1 will not, does not eat ground beef/turkey/chicken). Generally I do try to make sure there's one thing on the table that each person eats. So if I make meatloaf (which DD1 doesn't eat) I'll make sweet potatoes as a side, which she loves and figure she'll be a touch light on protein for that meal.
If they refuse something they used to eat then too bad. I keep their plate and if they want something more to eat in the evening that's all that's offered.
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I love these two beautiful children!
My DS is 4 and he eats what we eat. About a year ago I was still sometimes cooking two meals and my DS was not eating any veggies and only apple sauce for fruit. I just flashed forward in my mind and saw him being 10 and still living on mac and cheese and hotdogs so DH and I decided to do something about it. We just stopped making two meals and put our food on his plate with a fruit and veggie each night. At first he resisted. We finally just said you can eat this for dinner or go to bed. He did decide to go to bed a few times. There were lots of tears and crying....I felt horrible. Once we got through the first week of doing it, he realized we were not backing down. Some people may flame me for the way we did it.....oh well. We just knew we had to do something to change his unhealthy eating. Now he eats almost anything. We were at a Mexican restaurant last week and his meal came with black beans. I never had him try those before...he tried them right away. He even asked me last night if I would make him black beans! I about fell of my chair! He now eats a lot of foods - zucchini, broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes, refried beans, black beans, spinach....I can't believe how much difference a year has made. I have been working on him for fruits...last time we introduced a new fruit I simply told him that he had to start eating another fruit and either he could pick which one or I would pick one. He chose oranges....he is now eating oranges. I need to do that again...he's still a little limited on fruits.
Whatever you do, I believe in giving the kids a choice..though the choices were not appealing to my son (eat veggies or go to bed), he still had a choice and had what appeared like some control....they like control.
Good luck!
My kids don't eat dinner... whether I feed them what we are having or I make a dinner just for them... they don't eat it.
If I were in your place, I'd probably start by plating her at least one thing from our dish and work your way up... by days, weeks or months if needed. Sounds like she's a pretty good eater and just needs to be weaned from her habit.
Mama Jan's Kitchen... a food blog
He'll eat what we eat sometimes (chili dishes, pot roast and mashed potatoes, etc) He always gets vegeitables and fruit. Most of the time however I cook separate meals (baked chicken, spahgetti, tuna helper, hamburger helper, franks and beans, fish sticks, etc. I agree it is more work cooking two dishes---I think I need to wean off of that.
I know when we go out to dinner I don't order him what DH and I order, I order him a kids meal but oftentimes those meals don't have the best nutritional value.