Okay, I lied. I decided to post one more meal plan before the big move which is being delayed a bit.
That beautiful picture is a pumpkin I carved all by myself. Thanks to a stencil kit and my helpful mother-in-law, it wasn’t that hard (I’m not very good at this stuff). We had the pumpkin with dinner last night and it was so tasty.
This week I’m trying a couple of new recipes. My friend Dan sent me a recipe for roasted cauliflower and pasta and the breaded fish dish is another attempt at including another fish besides salmon. I’m working Thursdays now so I will make that slow cook day. I plan to freeze some of the leftovers from the spaghetti for our move week.
For more meal plans see Org Junkie.
What’s Cooking This Week?
Monday: Chicken and Bean Quesadillas with salsa and guacamole
Tuesday: Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower, bread and fruit salad
Wednesday: Baked breaded white fish, roasted butternut squash, bread and salad
Thursday: Slow cooker spaghetti, green beans with parmesan and bread
Friday: Leftovers/potluck
Challenges — pushing limits
My daughter just turned four and has been testing limits at home in everything from what she wears to what she eats. She is trying to get a rise out of me — and sometimes she succeeds.
She used to like peanut butter and now she doesn’t. She used to eat my fruit and veggie muffins and now she doesn’t. She makes a point to shun the fruit I put out at breakfast (but still eats it for a snack and with lunch). She used to eat broccoli and now can’t stand the smell and calls it “gross.”
I admit to letting this get to me. I try not to let it show but kids have a sixth sense about these things. It seems the more I want her to eat something, the less interested she is.
Times like this make following the division of responsibility extremely difficult. But the truth is I can’t make her eat anything. And the more I make it an issue, the longer the stage will last.
I totally understand the temptation parents face to give in and only give kids the items you know they’ll eat. But I think this is more for the parent’s benefit than the child’s. You see, my daughter doesn’t have a problem with the food I provide her. I’m the one having a problem with what she’s choosing to eat, which given her young age and previous history is VERY likely to change.
If I chase her “food preferences of the month” then she will learn that mommy only serves what she likes. So I stay in the middle — provide her with the foods she likes while giving her the opportunity to eat other foods.
I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m not immune to feeling insecure and doubtful of myself when it comes to feeding my kids. But I really do try to focus on what counts the most — providing my child with a variety of nutritious and good tasting foods in a pleasant environment. Forcing, pressuring, and manipulating will only backfire, which is the perfect segue to our next topic…
News — smarter lunchrooms
A couple of weeks ago the USDA announced it will be funding the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Program. The co-directors, Brian Wansink and David Just, will work to find easy, low-cost solutions for making school lunchrooms smarter by using theories of behavioral economics.
Their research shows that simply re-arranging where food is placed in a cafeteria has significant results. One school in upstate New York increased the consumption of salads by almost 300% by moving the salad bar near the check-out line. Another school increased fruit sales by 105% by making apples and oranges more visible by putting them in attractive baskets in a well-lit area. For more on these amazing case studies see Smarter Lunchrooms http://smarterlunchrooms.org/case_studies.html
I believe this approach is much better than banning foods and mandates for serving “healthy” options which naturally makes kids want to rebel. As I talked about in my 15 Surefire Ways to Get Kids Eat Healthy where I interviewed Wansink, we can do these same type of things in our home by making healthier options more accessible and attractive.
Wansink sums it up nicely by saying…
Food isn’t nutritious until it is eaten. We don’t improve school lunches by making children take healthier items. When forced upon them, children will resist and dislike not only the heavy-handed approach, but the food associated with that heavy hand. We improve school lunches by nudging children to make the right choices on their own. That way, when they take the apple instead of the cookie, it was their idea.
This gets to the idea that I often stress on this blog: how we feed kids is just as important as what we feed them. None of the proposed solutions involve new recipes, expensive equipment, or major revamps. It’s simply changing how food is offered.
So what do you think? Do you agree with these changes? Anyone from school nutrition have any thoughts?
Want to create your own dinner rotation? Get step-by-step help in Maryann’s book The Family Dinner Solution.
I would shout it from the rooftops if I could get my 5-year-old to eat fruit anytime! She has texture issues, I think, and trying new foods really freaks her out. I try not to worry about it too much — I was a really picky eater as I kid, and I’m relatively adventurous now — but it does stress me out sometimes.
Nichole — fruit is something my daughter has always liked but she is still afraid of trying many new foods. I think she is a lot like me when I was young. I remember loving fruit and other sweet foods — and being somewhat afraid of dinner type foods. They go through their stages but it all works out in the end. Thanks for the message!
I really like roasted cauliflower. I put it on my meal plan this week too!
First time I’m roasting cauliflower so will let you know how it turns out!
Would love to see the recipe for pasta with roasted cauliflower. That sounds like a great dish.
Maryann, I really love your blog. I am a foodie at heart and try so hard to feed my kids a balanced diet. It’s not always easy and some bad habits have crept in (and having a daughter who has autism and who resists change mightily does not make it any easier). I feel like your approach is very consistent and you keep things simple. You’ve given me some great ideas of things to try to undo some of those bad habits. Thanks so much, and keep it up. 🙂
Thanks so much goodfoutain. I REALLY appreciate that. I think feeding kids is hard for everyone and we really need to stick together. I plan to post the pasta & cauliflower recipe after trying it!
Maryann,
I appreciate your blog and your honesty about your daughter’s eating so much. I have struggled with feeding my 3.5 year old son since the day he was born. We have had a variety of issues including: a birth defect that made nursing difficult to impossible, a pediatrician who thought I was just an overactive first time mom, food allergies (we switched pediatricians), needing to put him on Nutramigen, and a huge HUGE struggle ever since introducing solid foods (textures, etc.) I have struggled with my own guilt of feeling like a failure when it comes to his eating habits and I know people such as my MIL blame me (but my second born is my redemption child, he will eat just about anything but raw bell pepper, and he eats with gusto!) It wasn’t until I discovered the division of responsibility and then your blog, that I started to feel hope. We are trying our hardest to change the bad habits. Your practical advice, honesty, and non-condescending/non-judgemental tone is truly a blessing. Thank you.
Thank you Megan. This is why I started this blog. I think there is WAY too much judgement around feeding kids these days. I truly believe every kid is different and its so easy to look at the parents. I do believe parents have great influence long term but some kids take much longer to accept a variety of foods. I, too, have a second kid that eats with gusto. He seems to have a much larger appetite even though he’s smaller than my daughter was at this age.
Thanks again. I really love hearing from readers!
Hi this is my first time ever reading your suggestions and i think they’re brilliant! In contrast to your other readers im only 17 but am big into healthy eating and my mum has always tried to keep me on the right track.
Im doing an assignment for home ec at the moment on obesity and meal planning . Finding your articles was like hitting the jackpot thank you and you’re a great role model! 🙂 Emily
Thanks Emily! Good luck with your assignment.
I’m interested to see what you think of the roasted califlower. The only vegetables my husband I got as kids was the mushy kind of gray canned green beans and the pretty generic salad, so as adults we didn’t eat a lot of veggies. We finally heard of roasted vegetables and it has really opened our eyes. Neither of us have liked califlower at all in any form, and we were so shocked that we both LOVED it roasted. I have to warn you though, it’s pretty stinky until near the end of the roasting process. FYI, roasted okra is fantastic, I’d take it over fried okra any day.
I’ll let you know how it turns out. I mostly liked raw veggies before discovering roasting. It really brings out the natural sweetness in veggies.
Maryann,
I also love coming here for ideas and reassurance. My almost 4 year old eats less than 10 things. I have been trying the division of responsibility system now since August. I realize that it will take a long time and he did try a fish stick … once, but I am wondering about one part. Am I suppose to include one of his foods with each meal? I especially find this hard when we are going to have something like pizza. Yogurt or peanuts just seem like a weird thing to serve with pizza. None of his “foods” would be considered a main dish and that makes things difficult as well. I appreciate your thoughts.