It’s Wednesday again – already! And once again, ’cause she rocks, Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer is hosting Works For Me Wednesday!
We are pleased to announce that our kids are normal. So normal, in fact, that they pick at their food and always want to pick out the stuff they don’t like. So every night we hear a barrage of, “Do I have to eat this?” “Do I have to eat it all?” “Are we having dessert?” (which is actually code for, “I’m not going to complain as much if you bribe me with something sweet.”) It’s all sorts of funny, because we don’t usually have dessert, and they know the answers to all of the other questions too. (In reality they really are good eaters, but it doesn’t stop the questions.)
A week or so ago, I had a stroke of genius. (This is rare indeed, so yes, I AM bragging about it!) While serving a meal that included many different kinds of vegetables, I told them that they could pick out one thing (meaning one type of vegetable) . . . then I made SURE that they had a bit of everything on their plates. I knew that they would probably both pick out the red peppers, leaving the broccoli and squash in the “to be eaten” pile. It was great. They knew the boundary, because it was a number. They also had the freedom to choose which offending veggie was the most heinous.
It was great (did I say that already?), and at least for the last week this little tip has made dinner much more peaceful. (We’ve only used it on nights when I am serving a variety of vegetables which is most nights in the summer.) May it give you at least a week of peace!
Yes, we do this too– works great for stir-fry dinners, pizza night, whatever….
Mary
When I was growing up, my siblings and I each got to choose one vegetable that we absolutely did not have to eat when it was served. Every other veggie, we had to eat at least a little portion of. It worked great for us.
Right on! We have stir fry a lot and I don’t really expect them to eat everything, but it’s kind of vague what they can get by with. This would be great!
I try to have a salad with each meal.
I don’t mix it, but put each ingredient in a different bowl.
That’s their choice.