How many more bites do I have to eat to get dessert?

Originally published on http://zoefoodsblog.blogspot.com/.

Am I the only mom that hears the same thing over, night after night at the dinner table? And by the way, it’s not, “mmm, this is delicious.” How about the litany of complaints ranging from: “It’s too spicy. “I won’t eat the tops of the broccoli, mommy, just the stem.” “Will you count how many more bites I have to eat to get dessert?”

Ugh – dinner used to be relaxing. After a long day at work, my husband and I need dinner to be more relaxing, but even more importantly, we want our girls to learn to eat a variety of foods and to enjoy eating healthfully. As hard as this can be, we persevere. With the increasing rates of childhood obesity and diabetes, and the number of girls that have eating disorders, we realize how important it is that we teach our kids to try new foods and to know when they are hungry and when they are full.

Once the girls had some teeth, my husband and I decided that our family would all eat the same thing for dinner – i.e. no specially made meals, no chicken fingers (“mommy, I didn’t know chickens had fingers!”), and no noodles with butter. Although dinner isn’t as relaxing as we might like, our girls are learning. They eat chicken, fish (I didn’t even eat fish until college!), red meat, pork, and pasta of course, along with a variety of vegetables, fruits, and the requisite daily treat.

So hang in there, teach your child to enjoy lots of different foods, tastes, and textures, always include at least one thing in their meal that you know they will enjoy that’s good for them, and pass the ketchup on your way out by leaving it in the fridge.