So what do the kids eat...?

laserturkey

I make what I want to make. They eat it, or don't. We have yogurt, fresh fruit and veggies, pumpkin seeds, cheese, tortillas, etc. on hand if they need to make their own "supplements."

AllonsYtotheTardis

I'm doing well with the healthy eating. Went shopping yesteday loaded up with fresh veggies, beans, quinoa. prepped a bunch of healthy recipes and then thought... And now what are the kids going to eat?! (and my husband remarked-where are the chips?) Sure they'll eat fresh veggies and fruit, but probably not Quinoa or Niciose Salad. So how do you integrate the family eating with your own?
2 seperate meals? And keep buying those snacks?

I am not a short order cook. I cook one meal, and the kids can deal with it.

Now - that's not a surprise to the kids - that was ALWAYS the way it worked here. And I haven't made drastic changes to how we eat - it's been a series of small changes. I'm not just trying to lose weight, I want to be healthy. It wouldn't make sense to not give my family healthy food as well. Hubby has been on board with the changes. We all get treats once in a while, so there has been no back-lash.

hdlb

For the most part, they eat what we eat. But between some very picky preferences, and multiple food allergies, (rice, oats, dairy, soy, gluten, corn) I end up making substiutions for some meals, which is fine. But I mean apple slices instead of steamed broccoli, or bbq chicken instead of teriyaki....there is not a chance that I will make hotdogs or chicken nuggets because my kids decide that the roast beef I made for dinner is "yucky".

Snacks in our house are pretty un-exciting. Fruits, veggies, rice cakes/crackers, jerky, hard boiled eggs, applesauce etc.

At the same time, we do not force them to eat. I make sure there is something one everyones plates that they will, and if they choose not to eat then they can go hungry until the next meal/snack. There are no snacks after dinner, if they don't eat they go until morning. And they do it without complaining.

Kxgz

We all eat the same way. Sometimes if I have taco salad they put it on a tortilla. Sometimes I make rice to go along with whatever protein and veggie I made, I just skip it usually. If you feed your family healthy, they will get used to it, eventually enjoy it and for sure thank you later for teaching them healthy habits.

bethlaf

my kids eat what we eat, they have to try some, a bite or two , if they don't like it , then they can have a fruit or another vegetable to replace it

but i refuse to cook 2 separate meals

ncl1313

The only time I make a second meal is if I have tried a new recipe that is...well...gross (baked tilapia with peaches and red onion salsa?...NASTY). Thank goodness I always have dry pasta around and can whip up some sauce in a pinch.

I assume as my son gets older and more picky about food, this will become more of a challenge and the temptation will be there to just throw some chicken nuggets in the oven so we can have a peaceful dinner. I believe in choosing your battles wisely. Who in their right mind wants to work all day, come home, make dinner, and then battle with their kids for the next hour about their food?

No, I don't think you should make your kid a completely separate meal, and I believe they should try everything you make. However, if you already know they don't like quinoa, perhaps make a second side so you can still have the quinoa and no argument. Or if they only like 4 veggies, make them one of those veggies and make yourself a different one. Or heat them up some leftovers if they are being extra picky and whiny. I, for one, really dislike leftovers, so I'd rather eat fresh food I don't like than microwaved stuff from last Tuesday.

Edited for typos.

alilarmour

I give the kids a variation of what we eat or make them things they like instead of what we're having. I'm on a strict regime at the minute - low carb, high protein. Hubby is doing it with me but we are a bit bored with all the green veg etc so I won't inflict that on the kids. They get nice bright carrots and corn. What they get isn't necessarily unhealthy. I have scrambled eggs most mornings for breakfast. I stick to weetabix for my youngest cos he likes it but some days he has eggs too. For dinners we are adding a lot of spice to make things taste nice so if we're having very spicy chicken with quinoa the kids get plainer chicken with veg and maybe some potato instead of sweet potato as they don't like it. I make them spag Bol as they love it but I can't have pasta so I make us prawn stir fry. Spag Bol for them will do a few nights so I can freeze portions. It's not that difficult to make two meals each night. If I have cauliflower rice they get normal rice - purely cos it's easier than standing grating another cauliflower to make enough for them too. As the kids get older they will eat more the same stuff as us but they get well fed at school/nursery and aren't too hungry by tea time so they might as well have things they like. And yes they do get chicken nuggets sometimes and fish fingers and other frozen stuff. They're kids. They like it. They eat well and my 5 year old isn't picky - he will always try everything. The younger one hasn't quite got to that stage yet.

staceypunk

My kids are 4 and almost 2 years old. My 4 year old eats like a bird and is so stubborn and every meal is a freaking struggle. I always serve dinner as whatever I have made for the meal. Often my 2 year old will eat parts of it, but some nights she tries it and wants nothing to do with it. My 4 year old just looks at it and declares "I am only eating the carrots" or something like that. She's so annoying and when we make her try one bite she often literally gags, like a reflex but she must be acting right?
I really have tried to be a hard-*kitten* and have sent her to bed when she's eaten nothing several times but it's often a nightmare because she turns into a monster (from hunger I am guessing:)) .

A lot of times I give in because it really does ruin the whole night for everyone. If she is complaining that she is hungry she gets yogurt, peanut butter toast or a banana. Sometimes I give her cereal with milk which I know is not good because it what she wants but I guess I feel like I have to pick my battles. Sometimes if I am making something I know either of them will eat I make them chicken nuggets.

I wish every night could be taco night. Always such a happy dinner time!

I am hoping once they are a bit older, like school age I can be more firm and then they'll be eating what is served.

summery79

My son is a preteen. He has always been super picky. REALLY picky. He will eat quinoa though. lol So you never know. He fixes his own breakfast and lunch, but everyone has the same (generally) healthy dinner. When we have pasta, I do shirataki or spaghetti squash, and the guys have real pasta. Or when we have tacos, I make myself a taco salad instead. But aside from those easy sort of substitutions, dinner is take it or leave it. We do require that he eats at least a couple bites of the protein in his dinner.

My son does Lucky Charms or other crappy sugar-laden cereal for breakfast, and mac and cheese or mini pizzas for lunch most days. We've required recently that he at least includes some fruit in there for fiber. When I try to get him to eat salads, etc with me, he generally does not eat at all. I can get him to drink protein shakes with me. I've reached a point where I've tried pretty much all the advice from ppl over the years (making cute lunches, calling the food cool names, only giving the kid whatever we eat, mixing the brown and white rice together, whatever). I swear most of the ppl who give this advice have never had a *truly* picky eater. (But I'm sure it is fun to judge if you are not dealing with this personally, or if you were blessed to have children who grew out of it.) My kid is almost 10, he barely weighs 55 lbs soaking wet. He has always been very low on his growth curve (bobbing between the third to tenth percentile). Husband and I mutually decided we'd rather have him eat some calories, any calories than continually have him skip meals and fall off his growth curve. Son says he plans on being the smart and funny guy to get girls to like him, not the big and strong guy, so he feels that he is all set. lol

His pediatrician says that he will eventually make better food choices because he always sees his parents making good choices. I'm not so sure about that, I feel that that should have happened by now. I don't anticipate this getting better when he enters his teen years. Either way, this does not affect my weight loss (and now maintenance). At least I am setting a good example.

murphy612

My son has Aspergers and is a very picky eater. single ingredient foods, no veggies, very limited. His diet consists of chicken nuggets, fries, fish sticks, vienna sausages, flour tortillas with cheese melted in them, pepperoni pizza, plain hot dogs, chips, and grapes or oranges, or watermelon. And scrambled eggs, ham and cheese , or peanut butter sandwiches. All very easy to fix meals. So yeah, most of the time I fix him a separate dinner from my husband and I. But it has been this way for most of his life, so no difference there.

We do supplement his diet with multivitamins, and he is extremely healthy.

My son has Autism as well and his diet consists of these things as well.

My step son as well :-) Only no fruit and loves shrimp and any type of noodles as long as I call them "Asian". I make an exception for this son because if he doesn't like it he just won't eat no matter how hungry he is and he's already underweight so I do the best I can to get some healthy food in him. Most everyone else in the household eats what I fix, including my other autistic step son. Unless I make something really strange, then I try to be more accomidating and have them make their own dinner that night, heheh.

sullus

2 Kids, 17 and 14. We'll cook dinner, and if there's a problem with what was cooked, the boys are welcome to grab a bowl of cereal for dinner. We will generally make one side just for the boys something like Knorr pasta sides.

mandypizzle

My kids eat what I eat. I won't feed them junk food. I mean, I do buy them more snacks than I eat like cheese sticks, pretzels, stuff like that but no junk. Breakfast and lunches I sometimes eat separately because I might want a smoothie and maybe a salad. The kids eat those things but not as often as I like to but the kids eat healthy too. Dinner we all eat together.

mahanaibu

I really relate and have not figured out a real solution yet. I only have a 15-year-old at home still, but she's always been my pickiest eater. I could come up with meals that we all can eat (my husband follows my healthy eating style) but it's not ideal for me. i.e. I could make chicken and lean meats and she'll eat all the salads I make. But I like to incorporate a lot more seafood almost every day and she doesn't like any seafood at all except occasional grilled salmon. I like to make vegetable stews and exotic soups, also a no-go.

I try to make sure there are some healthy, easy choices around for her that she can throw together herself, usually frozen. or I make two meals, which I hate. or I'll try to make one process work for two meals...like I'll roast vegetables for our dinner, but then I'll throw hers in with olive oil and garlic and make some pasta with it for pasta primavera. I don't eat pasta anymore; what's she supposed to do, give up all the foods she knows because I suddenly and radically changed my whole way of eating? Tonight we'll have burgers. Mine will be ahi on cloud bread. hers will be beef on regular whole-wheat hamburger buns. uh, not a lot in common there...just the avocado, lettuce and tomato we'll top them with.

lovelyladyJ21

My kids are 8 and 3 and there was only 1 time I ever made something else for dinner for one of them. It was my 3 year old and we were having chicken and dumplings and the texture made him vomit (he has horrible gag reflex) so needless to say I made him a taco. But both of my boys eat what we eat, and we rate it to see if we like it or not, If they really dislike it then it doesn't make it's way to my cookbook, if it was ok I try to find other ways to make it.
Until they start buying food and making dinner I will not make a separate meal. They will eat what we eat or nothing at all!

quiltlovinlisa

I have five kids, there's no way in heck I'd do separate meals for anyone. Some of kids are very picky. We have some rules that we've used for a few years now that have served us well over the years. We don't put limits on veggies, however if you want seconds or if we're having a family night with some sort of treat, then you have to eat all your dinner (kid size portion) but we leave the choice up to them. I offer multiple choice for veggies if I can, usually a raw and a cooked because some kids will eat raw, some will eat cooked, it all depends. I don't worry if someone decides to skip dinner, it's their choice, but they need to sit with us as a family.

Over the years my kids have gradually widened the types of foods that they eat and for those busy crazy days where we do have pizza or chicken nuggets, I make sure there's lots of fresh good food offered on the table as well. My twins eat fresh sliced bell peppers like there's no tomorrow, lol.

We do put limits on cereal (breakfast only) so no one can try to live off of it (there's one that would). Overall I think we've done pretty good in setting our kids up to have a healthy relationship with food. We're still working on it though.

DawnieB1977

My kids eat what we do. I'm not cooking separate meals. The only time I'll do that is if we have something really spicy like a Thai green curry, then I make the kids jacket potato and tuna.

I do buy them different snacks. They have some savoury crackers and I buy child-friendly crisps (chips) which are made from corn and have reduced salt in them. Today we went out and I took a banana, crackers, cheese and cucumber and some rice cakes.

Occasionally I make them little cakes, maybe once a month. I prefer to make things myself.

My kids are nearly 4 and nearly 2.

Josee76

We eat family meals together. We do make some minor changes for the kids if there is a particular issue (our oldest hates tomato sauce), but we keep those pretty minimal. And to be honest, when our kids start commenting on a particularly "healthy" dish tasting gross, they're usually right. I just gave up on my many attempts with protein pancakes for this reason. IMO, food is meant to be shared and enjoyed and healthy doesn't need to taste bad, or require strange modifications to recipes.

^^^ This!

Why should they eat anything different? My girls eat what I eat. I mean let's face it, they see what others eat they have asked "when are we going to start eating like normal people" and when I asked them to elaborate, they replied "hot dogs, burgers, pizza from a box, noodles" my reply "NEVER!" Don't buy the crap, it's not there to consume. They will adjust!

You can also bake with your kids. This is how we provide snacks for school; mini muffins, cookies, granola bars.

We have to set an example. I spent my childhood obese; I don't want that for my kids.

bacitracin

My son has Aspergers and is a very picky eater. single ingredient foods, no veggies, very limited. His diet consists of chicken nuggets, fries, fish sticks, vienna sausages, flour tortillas with cheese melted in them, pepperoni pizza, plain hot dogs, chips, and grapes or oranges, or watermelon. And scrambled eggs, ham and cheese , or peanut butter sandwiches. All very easy to fix meals. So yeah, most of the time I fix him a separate dinner from my husband and I. But it has been this way for most of his life, so no difference there.

We do supplement his diet with multivitamins, and he is extremely healthy.

My son has Autism as well and his diet consists of these things as well.

Is it odd that I have Asperger's Syndrome and can't stand any of those foods? I do eat the same sausages every morning and the same turkey burgers every day for lunch though, so I understand the picky eating thing. I had a fit when the Farmer John Chorizo breakfast sausage was discontinued and I had to switch to the regular breakfast sausage.

BeckH888

It's hard - me, hubby, and 11 year daughter are ALL in different schedules so we rarely eat together. My hubby and I are dieting, but even our dieting strategy differs - he is LOW carb and I'm low calories. My daugther is a gymnast and works out 10+ hours/week at the gym, so we don't deny her anything. The bottom line - the grocery bill is HUGE for these 3 different diets!

BeachGingerOnTheRocks

Right now, I mainly feed my kids food. The 3-year-old will sometimes enjoy a crayon, beach sand, or the occasional cat in her mouth, but we try to discourage that. Sometimes I indulge it, but getting red crayon from between the back teeth can be a real pain. I got her one of those singing toothbrushes, it plays One Direction's That's What Makes You Beautiful, and that has helped.

happyheathen927

My oldest is extremely picky, and has some mild sensory issues. For years I let things get worse and worse, until I was making separate meals for the kids: the adults ate healthy, balanced meals; the kids ate homemade mac & cheese or hotdogs or pb&j's. My husband was working nights and after a full workday myself, I just didn't have it in me to fight about it. When he switched back to days and was home for dinner, he declared it ridiculous (it was) and the separate meals stopped. It was HORRIBLE, for a couple weeks. When the kids realized that daddy was having none of it, and they could eat what we were eating or not eat, it pretty much stopped.

That being said, I do make sure that there's SOMETHING at every meal that the picky kid will willingly eat. She still has to eat a little of the stuff she doesn't love, though.

Note: this required the full support of both parents, and the change was NOT easy.

FitMrsR

Nope! Everyone eats what I make or they don't eat at all. Luckily my family loves the healthy food I make because its delicious and I'm sure yours will too. Hubby was skeptical at first too. What I did was make more 'normal' food healthier. So we switched to brown rice and whole wheat pasta, beans as a substitute for meat in chilli....etc etc then I just started making other healthy foods that weren't as usual like quinoa, using spelt flour, tofu, etc etc etc. healthy food does taste yummy if you do it right :drinker:

ETA: we've been eating healthy food since our daughter was 4mo so she's grown up eating it. She's 2.5 years old now and eats everything including Brussels sprouts (yuck), asparagus, and spinach..... Your family will get used to it too.

julesxo

My kids eat healthy but my son who is 1 year old has severe reflux and sensitivity to textures so he is still on pureed food. My daughter eats what I eat, for the most part. Lots of veggies fruit and lean meat.

ncl1313

Right now, I mainly feed my kids food. The 3-year-old will sometimes enjoy a crayon, beach sand, or the occasional cat in her mouth, but we try to discourage that. Sometimes I indulge it, but getting red crayon from between the back teeth can be a real pain. I got her one of those singing toothbrushes, it plays One Direction's That's What Makes You Beautiful, and that has helped.

*snort*

You totally win.

cook6609

I have two young children (3 yrs and 20 months). While my oldest can pretty much eat everything that I eat, my youngest is still learning how to properly chew the uncooked veggies. To get their fruit and veggies in during the day, I give them fruit for lunch and cooked veggies for dinner. They don't always eat the veggies, but I give them the option. I RARELY give them chips or anything unhealthy like that (usually only at picnics or something like that). They love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on whole wheat bread... Just make the changes for them as well... I find that canned fruit in 100% juice or fruit cups (100% juice) are good for the younger ones that are still getting a hang of chewing... I'm also pretty sure that they can handle quinoa (especially if they like pasta, they will like quinoa)

MamaCass30

There's one rule in my kitchen: eat or starve.

End of story. My kids are pretty young, 6 & 8, so they tend to eat. They figured out after one meal they refused to eat that mama wasn't playing. There will be no separate meal fixed for anyone.

happyheathen927

I am hoping once they are a bit older, like school age I can be more firm and then they'll be eating what is served.

I have been exactly where you are. Please, please trust me on this: it's so much easier to set the expectations when they're younger than to try to "fix" things when they're older. I KNOW it's easier to give in, 'cause I did it for years. But you're just setting yourself up for a MUCH bigger battle later. :flowerforyou:

Ohnoes

have them help cook... my kids will at least taste almost anything that they help make.

have them help garden... my kids will eat almost anything that they grew themselves.

put a small serving of everything on their plates... they may ignore it for months or even years, but eventually they may get used to seeing it there and give it a taste. this is how i got my six year old to eat zucchini, bell peppers, mushrooms and fish. it took years, now he loves them.

make delicious healthy food and let your kids see you enjoying it... they are copycats!

throw in a pizza here and there.

budru21

I have been eating mostly non processed, higher protein, and loads of veggies for almost 3 years. My girls (11, 9, 3) used to eat anything I made, but the past year or so, they have become kind of picky. They get to eat crap food when they are with their dad, so they "get a taste for it" while with him. So...after fighting with them the past year, we have finally come up with some compromise. We take turns choosing what to have for dinner, but I will always make a healthy version of whatever they are requesting. Last night they wanted steak and mashed potatoes. I made them add two veggies (they chose green beans and brocoli) , grilled some lean elk steaks, and used almond milk and seasonings with non fat greek yogurt for the mashed potatoes. I added mushrooms and feta cheese for the steaks. They LOVED it and said it was a favorite. The night prior, they chose "chinese food", so I made chicken stir fry over brown rice. It was just veggies, chicken, and brown rice with a sauce consisting of spices, a small amount of sugar, and olive oil. Certainly nutritious and delicious. WIN! Healthy eating should be a family thing. My older kids can read a nutrition label and know the basics of what each macronutrient does for our bodies.It has taken a few years to instill interest and knowledge, but it was worth it! Good luck!!!

vim_n_vigor

Well, the kids need to learn to eat healthy too, but it is also true that they have slightly different nutritional needs than you do. For example, my 7 year old is 95th percentile for height, but 7th for weight. This puts him in the underweight category. He is already eating between 2000 and 3000 calories a day, but if I only put light meals in front of him, he would never be able to get the amount of calories he needs. I suppose I could just tie him to a chair all day so he stops burning calories, but I like the fact he is active. My 5 year old is also underweight, but not by as much. He eats more like 1700-2200 calories a day. Again, I have to make sure he has some pretty high calorie dense foods to get those calories into such a little body. We don't necessarily make separate meals, unless we are having something extra spicy, or something that we know after many times that somebody doesn't like it. We try to make meals adaptable. Taco night - the kids get slices of avocado, extra cheese and sour cream, and fried taco shells. I will use lower calorie tortillas, less of the avocado, much less cheese and sour cream, and add a lot more veggies to bulk it up. This way, they still have the same meals as everyone else, but their caloric needs are considered as well as mine.