Food for Thought

My least favorite part of parenting is FOOD! I had a hard enough time feeding myself when it was just me. So as soon as I had children the food situation became a million times worse. While I struggle with any sort of motivation to cook, there are a few successes that we have had with our children and mealtime.

1. You eat what I eat- No short order cooks.

2. You don't have to eat it if you don't like it but I am not making you something else or giving you snacks before bed. 

3. Once you get up from the table the kitchen is closed.

4. No sippy cups or straws- These items are completely unnecessary if not detrimental (see here) 

Is it perfect every day? NO...

Do I find myself bribing? Sometimes.... "Yes, you can have strawberries, after you eat three pieces of chicken!" or "You can sit and wait for everyone to finish eating and then go skateboarding. Or you can go straight to bed. What do you choose to do?"

But for the most part we are seeing our hard work pay off.  Our goal to having meal time be family time is shaping up fairly well. We've recently started talking more about dinner conversation and helping the kids learn to ask about our day.  Tell us about their day etc. 

And there is also the practice of being excused from the table and taking their dishes to the sink.  They seem to really enjoy taking their dishes to the sink and I think we will soon start teaching Anderson how to load the dishwasher.  Maybe we will rinse and he will load. 

Do you have any tips or tricks for this? I'd love to hear your experiences!