Deceptively Delicious- Part II

So I was convicted to read that dinners should never be a power struggle but that it should be a positive and pleasant experience. So often we make Jack continue eating after he signs 'all done' by waving his little arms in the air. Since he turned 8 months old he's not very interested in eating when he could be out playing! So we make him eat even when he doesn't want to.

We need to find that fine line between  encouraging him to vs. forcing him to eat more.

I started thinking about how my parents approached dinner growing up. Let me start off by saying my mom is a great cook. She can whip up anything in just a few minutes and it tastes delicious. She is a wonderful mother and tried her best to instill good eating habits on my sisters and I.

But I remember being forced to eat an entire vegetable soup plate before every meal up until we moved to the U.S. To this day I don't like any type of soup and equal that word with 'bad tasting'. I don't like most vegetables either. In fact I've only made soup once since we've been married and that's when Steve was really sick and asked for some homemade chicken noodle soup about a year ago.

So how do I get Jack to eat vegetables? I somehow must make the vegetables taste good so he wants to eat them. So I will want to eat it myself.

A good pointer I read in the book- is to have a side of vegetables at every meal even if there is already a vegetable mixed in the main course. And to serve them as appetizers while cooking if dinner is not ready. If children are hungry enough, they will end up eating and hopefully develop a taste for it overtime.

So we are going to try that going forward. I have no idea how its going to work out but I hope it turns out well. I think its better than the alternative of forcing veggies on Jack since I know it didn't work on me long-term.

One more convicting point about this book- was to not turn the TV during dinner. I must confess I so often turn the TV on when Jack doesn't want to eat, because he will sit in that chair and just open his little mouth, and it makes feeding him much much easier and my life less stressful.

And even though Steve gets home around 6:30 for work a few days a week, somehow I am going to manage so we can ALL eat dinner together. He's been asking me to do this for a while, but its hard to make it that late without eating dinner. I am just going to have to get creative so we can last until then to eat together as a family. Hopefully this will help keep Jack 'entertained' during dinner without having to resort to the TV.

I'd LOVE to hear tips from you on what has worked well for your family on good eating habits, and specially on getting your toddler to eat vegetables :)

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Quick update since I originally wrote this:

Last week went out to dinner. We ordered mac and cheese with a side of broccoli for Jack. He apparently did not like it and spit it out three times!! Even when I mixed it with the mac and cheese. Ahh it was so frustrating.

I haven't been turning on the TV during mealtimes. The first time he must've pointed at the TV 10-15 times while saying 'Hot-dog' over and over again! (hot dog is what he calls Mickey Mouse)

"I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was  little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm the President and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli" - George H.W Bush