Dinner Time!

It was brought to my attention that I'm unfair at the dinner table. Because of Sugars texture problem I tend to not force her to eat or try new foods. That often leads to either the girls eating something different than us or 3 of us eating the same thing while Sugar eats a different meal.

I'm more sympathetic to her because I understand what its like. I don't throw up with certain food textures but I have trouble eating some things.

So we had to start a new meal time routine. Everyone has to eat the same thing or at least try what's on the plate.

Last week we started working on this. Monday Chief grilled some steaks. These steaks come from his parents small farm and they are huge. So that night we all had steak which isn't an issue cause my kids like it. But they had to have salad and veggies which usually doesn't happen. I let them dip the lettuce in some ranch dressing {what is it with kids and ranch dressing} Spice ate every last bite of her salad while Sugar had more than the required amount even though she didn't eat it all. We had some potatoes that were steamed with some snow peas. To my utter amazement Spice ate the peas and asked for more. It was harder to get Sugar to even taste one but she did. Rewards all around they got a little bit of ice cream after dinner.

Tuesday night Chief took some of the left overs and made Philly cheese steak sandwiches. This is something he loves to do with the left overs. They were tasty too! Again the girls ate them without complaint. We started with a half and Spice asked for more. I was just please that Sugar ate the half without complaining.

Weds Chief had an idea for the rest of the left overs. He made a beef and broccoli stir fry with mushrooms, green peppers and onions. We served it over brown rice. I separated it for the girls. Spice LOVES broccoli! Sugar ate hers without complaining but didn't clean her plate. I was just happy she ate the broccoli and the mushrooms.

Thurs night we had Frito pies. I had some vegetarian chili in the freezer I had made up a little while ago. Spice cleaned her bowl only leaving a few kidney beans. {she doesn't care for those} The funny thing was she picked out all the black beans and at those. Sugar was scooping up the black beans with the Frito's. I thought I was going to pass out. My kids are eating what I prepared without me having to make anything extra. It makes meal times so much easier!

Friday we had left overs.

Last night Chief and I weren't really hungry enough to cook something. It had gotten late so actually throwing a meal together wasn't practical for us either. I took out a staple from the pantry for the girls. Mac and Cheese. Sugar loves the Annie's shells and cheese. I decided to test the vegetable theory on them. I gave them a choice broccoli or corn. Sugar wanted corn and Spice wanted broccoli. No surprises there. I steamed up a little of eat and gave the one who asked for the veggie more but also gave them a little of the one they didn't ask for just to be fair. Spice cleaned her plate of both veggies and asked for more. Sugar ate her broccoli then asked for more. Huge improvement.

I'm learning it just takes persistence. I want healthy eaters but the only way to get that is to teach them how to eat healthy. I'm sure we'll have times when we run into a battle but over all I think we headed in the right direction.

Eat your dinner!

Remember when you were a kid and your parents told you to clean your plate. At our house we've never enforced that rule because of Sugar's senory issues, we've been making them seperate things if we are eating something they don't like.

I finally decided that if Sugar is ever going to get over her food adversions that I need to stop doing this. So they either eat what we eat for dinner or go hungry. I think a lot of her trouble is self induced. Sometimes she gages before she even puts it in her mouth. My only requirement with both of them is just taste it. I have gotten her to taste and eat stew meat and turkey burger. A lot of nights she goes to bed with barely eating anything but I feel like we have a better grasp on dinner time. The battles are becoming less now that she knows what we expect of her at dinner time.

Spice has always eaten better than her big sister but I still have a time with her. For some odd reason she wouldn't eat potatoes from our pot roast dinner the other night but loves mashed potatoes and baked potatoes and of course french fries. I was pleased as punch to watch her eat some roast on Sunday. Even the putting the carrot to her lips was a big step.

I always said before I had kids that I would not feed them fast food or junk food. That all changed when I had a child that had trouble with food. It took Sugar a long time to even taste a french fry and 2 weeks of therapy to eat a cheeto. Now of course it's all she asks for, but recently making the decision for myself to eat healthier foods will hopefully have a positive impact on their food choices. I'm also a picky eater but there are foods that are good for me that I like so if I can just get them to eat those foods with us I'll feel better about what they eat. Hummas is one of mine and Spices favorite snacks, even if it's with pita chips if we limit the pita chips to a serving size it's better than a bag of potato chips or cookies.

How do you get your kids to eat healthy foods?

Is dinner time a battle at your house?