The Meal Cheater
Confession: I cheat at mealtimes
A lot.
When it comes time to feed my toddler a healthy well-balanced breakfast, lunch, or dinner, I take quite a few shortcuts.
It wasn’t always this way though; Isaac used to eat anything and everything I placed in front of him. I was so proud of my good eater and assumed this miracle would continue.
Sadly, that was not the case, hence the cheating at mealtimes.
Sound familiar?
Some of my usual slacker tactics include: feeding him baby food veggies when he won’t eat the real ones, letting him read a book at the table while I sneak spoonfuls in, and counting potatoes (baked chunks, french fries, mashed) as vegetables.
Yes I know they are vegetables, haha, but not as super antioxidant mineral and vitamin fortified as most green ones, that’s all.
I have tried many tricks of the trade and advice from other moms as well as read a billion books, but we have not made a great deal of progress here. Offering a variety of foods, making foods look appealing and fun, eating the same foods as him, distracting, fun colorful plates, dipping, etc. nothing seems to work!
Obviously this is driving me a little batty because I am a healthy eater (most of the time!) so when my 19-month old refuses my tasty homemade lasagna and fresh blueberries on the side it makes me sad ):
Then of course I worry that Isaac is not eating enough, so I let him have wheat crackers and cheese for a meal and feel guilty about it.
At least he will eat baby food veggies, because any other vegetable gets spit out immediately, as well as most meats and about half the fruits I offer.
So let me explain the foods we DO eat, aside from the grains group: yogurt, cheese, tomato soup, turkey dogs, pbj, apple sauce, strawberries, kiwis, bananas, fruit cocktail, chicken nuggets, sweet and normal potato chunks, tater tots, meatballs in spaghetti sauce, and all baby food veggies out there.
Add the waffles, cereal, crackers, etc and that is our menu…pretty limited.
And of course the wasted food and money annoys me too. Isaac please eat your food!!!
Praying this is a quick phase…anyone else have experiences like this? Please reassure me that my son will not starve and will actually survive on goldfish crackers! (:
