The blog world this week has lit up with how to feed your kid and what is healthy and what is not healthy and how bad kids menu's are at resturants.
Now I agree with some of it and disagree with some of it.
I agree we should teach our kids from young what is healthy and what is not, I don't agree with being an insane mom who smothers her child with cucumber and the latest trend of what is acceptable eating.
Spur for example is fun and their food is fun, I take my child to Spur for fun, I don't go to Spur and eat salad, I eat buffalo wings and chips with blue cheese sauce and I enjoy it, not daily or weekly but as a now and again treat, if they took mac n cheese off the kiddies menu my kid would literally not eat!
Now my kid is a picky eater and as I was raised I do not force feed him anything, if he isn't hungry he doesn't have to eat and if he doesn't like what is made he can choose an option that is easily prepared or what I buy in advance, like Woolies kiddies mac n cheese (Aidens version is awesome noodles), shop bought muffins, bovril toast, yogurt, porraige or fish fingers.
He doesn't like veg.
He doesn't like meat.
He doesn't like rice or potatoes.
I don't like most veg, I don't like my food touching or stews and soups. I don't like cottage pie and I hate salad. I don't eat it but I still eat a healthy diet.
Fair enough my kid isn't eating a balanced diet but he isn't malnourished or some crazy zombie child. He is a kid. I apparently would only eat spaghetti bolognaise as a kid and I am perfectly fine adjusted adult. Yes a tad over weight from pregnancy and being insulin resistant but definitely not from mac n cheese and chicken nuggets as a kid.
For some reason Aiden will eat all food at school, teachers say it's a monkey see, monkey do effect so I know at least 5 days out the week for breakfast, snack and lunch he is getting in all his veggies, protein, fruit and dairy so I am not to phased about the other meals being less than adequate.
Maybe I am a bad parent or a lazy one but I'm not going to make my kid scared of food, of eating or having fun. There should be balance in everything, parenting today has become so structured, so rigid, so fad related and high strung.
Let kids be kids, hot dogs on white bread and all!
Very brave of you to share in light of all the recent posts! I agree in part - take away is great. Fast food definitely has it's place. Treats are flipping awesome! With Zoe we try an 80/20 rule. At home she eats good, well balanced meals with a good variety (we've spent many many hours trying to help her overcome her fussy eating issues and limited taste experiences). She doesn't get dessert every night, in fact she very seldom gets dessert - we save it for special occasions or weekends. When we go out to eat, our biggest challenge is to get her to choose something different - not the same old food every single time. We try encourage her to be adventurous and experimental so that her tastes are broadened and she can start to discover that she does in fact like a lot more than just what's always been given to her.
ReplyDeleteI am very aware of the various ways of disordered eating that she is exposed to, and want to try give her a different start so that she grows up with a healthy, nutrition focused relationship with food.
Ps - Mac and cheese for the win!!
I agree with you Jess! If you force a kid to only eat healthy things that can be bad too - then yours is the one vomiting over the sweet table because he has mainlined on crap at a party (I have actually seen this happen). And none of us go out to eat to eat healthy things -that is how we eat at home, eating out is a treat and a fatty,delicious treat.
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