Kid rules?
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knorris84
Posts: 141 Member
Hey Everyone! What are y'alls rules when it comes to your kids and their eating? I eat keto/low carb and cycle between the two. My husband would eat chicken fingers and french fries every meal if possible. He's not a big sweets eater but now I have the biggest sweet tooth ever! My two year old seems to be taking after me on that too. 😒 There are so many things out there on kids need to eat this and no they don't need this. Did you guys have rules you went by? He's 2 now and I still have a little bit of control for the time being and would like to figure out a game plan before he gets out of control. (Only child) Should I go by the suggested guidelines of fruits, veggies, meats, grain, dairy? Do you guys add in more fat and less grains and fruits? What's y'all's go to? He doesn't drink milk and NEVER has. I can get a little almond milk in him with cereal or oatmeal. He only does1/2-3/4cup of juice a day and that's in the morning. The rest of the time is flavored sugar free water. I would love it to be plain water tho. Thanks in advance!
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I mostly stuck to meat and veg and dairy for my kids when they were little...some starchy veg or pasta, but definitely grains at only one meal a day. They don't eat a huge amount of volume when they have little tummies, so I tried to make every bite matter nutritionally as much as possible. My daughter was never a milk girl, but she loved fruit yogurts and cheeses, so I figured she was getting plenty of calcium.
I didn't ever make the kids eat anything they didn't like, but they were always required to try at least 2 bites of everything served to them.
Meals are what you get. You can eat what's in front of you, or nothing. My way, no highway option, you don't get to have something else, you eat or you don't eat.
Treats for special occasions, I didn't limit. If they want to make themselves sick on candy Easter morning, then so be it. But, generally they didn't.3 -
oh, "coffee" was another way to get milk into my daughter...like 1/2 cup of milk, 1/4 cup of some flavored creamer, and a tiny splash of coffee...heat it up in the microwave, it would make a nice warm drink that she loved and it made her feel all grown up to "drink coffee"1
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tcunbeliever wrote: »I mostly stuck to meat and veg and dairy for my kids when they were little...some starchy veg or pasta, but definitely grains at only one meal a day. They don't eat a huge amount of volume when they have little tummies, so I tried to make every bite matter nutritionally as much as possible. My daughter was never a milk girl, but she loved fruit yogurts and cheeses, so I figured she was getting plenty of calcium.
I didn't ever make the kids eat anything they didn't like, but they were always required to try at least 2 bites of everything served to them.
Meals are what you get. You can eat what's in front of you, or nothing. My way, no highway option, you don't get to have something else, you eat or you don't eat.
Treats for special occasions, I didn't limit. If they want to make themselves sick on candy Easter morning, then so be it. But, generally they didn't.
The above X 1000. But if they refused to eat, I'd keep their food and tell them, "Let me know when you are hungry." They'd get hungry, and then they'd finally eat it. I did this from a young age. Some of them are still darn picky, but at supper you eat what momma makes, so they eat it without complaint.
And I did the coffee thing, but called it coffee-milk. The amount they enjoyed that is ridiculous.
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Omg! You guys! Y'all are genius's! That's amazing!! Thank y'all so much! Those are all going to be huge helpful tips! I'm throwing away soooo much food! Life savors!1
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About the only rule I had was that you did not have to eat anything you don't want to eat, but no one wants to hear about it. So - they go through some phase where if they can see pepper in the macaroni and cheese, they won't eat it. That is fine with me, but I don't need to hear how they don't like it when they can see the pepper. Dad is not a short order cook.
I think really you model behavior most of the time. If they see you sucking back beer or soda, then soda looks like a "thing." If you love broccoli, then they tend to as well (until they go to school and learn that you are not supposed to like it).0 -
When my kids were little (21 and 16 now), I was on the whole grain, low fat train. We always ate whole foods though and meals were well rounded and rarely heavily processed stuff.
They were never allowed seconds of something if they hadn't finished other things (i.e., you haven't eaten your broccoli & chicken yet, so no you cannot have more pasta). I kept repeating foods on their plates that they didn't like "the look of". I think all parents relate to what I mean by that! They always had to taste a bite or two (but again I could tell if they truly didn't like it or it was just an emotional response).
Some people say I'm a picky eater too, so I sympathize trying to eat foods you truly do not like, but I also refuse to short order cook. My daughter has never liked fish of any sort in any form... so if I wanted fish, I only made it on nights I knew there was an existing protein leftover that she could choose from.
My kids always bought into trying new foods better if they were involved in purchasing or prepping it (dragonfruit looks so cool!). Also making a "snack" plate and putting something new on it seemed to win every time. Plus a couple of crackers or potato chips along side the veggies, dip, fruit, meat & cheese was never treated any different. Food is food, not good or bad.0 -
Oh ya treats! My kids both invariably would throw away halloween stuff when the Christmas candy arrived and ditto come Easter. They sort of gorged the day they got it and then it lost appeal. We have always had a candy dish out somewhere as did their grandparents. They just ignore it mostly! My step son on the other hand can barely concentrate knowing its there and he's not eating any.....1
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I let my 5-year-old help me prepare the meals. He gets a sense of accomplishment. He loads up the Instant Pot, bangs on meat, pulls broccoli from the stalk, and scoops out avocados. He loves Spanish ham but not ready to cut the leg (pata) by himself. Or at least I am not ready.
Have you ever seen that Netflix movie about the family that takes their son on a trip across the world living off the land, eating local food and catching fish? I wonder what that child is like now.0 -
These are all very helpful ideas! Thank you all so very much! I've been adding all of these already and have seen a huge improvement so far! Haha today was the first trip to the grocery store and he pointed out every chip and cracker and cake and I was like yep sure is baby and kept on going. He still has plenty available that he can have if he just absolutely HAS to have it but I didn't want to give in a buy more this week. By the time we got home he had already forgotten about it 😜.0
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Another thing to try if he goes to the grocery shop with you when he's older is to let him choose 1 new veggie or fruit a week (yeah sometimes it might be expensive, but it's only 1 item not a bagful) or a different kind of meat if that's doable - we just tried kangaroo last month. Then they are invested in healthy eating and trying new things. You can also make the plate fun to look at instead of just little piles of foods. Appearance is BIG to kids.
I think these plates are a neat idea:
https://dollarstorecrafts.com/2010/07/make-food-face-plates/0 -
Oh I absolutely love those!!! How adorable!! Thank you so much for those ideas!0
