One of my daughters and I spent a much-needed morning with a nutritionist, in an attempt to help us through the minefield of hormonal shifts and changes that hit young girls during adolescence. We got a tremendous amount of help with my daughter's specific issues, but more importantly, I was given some directives to follow for the entire family. This will be a real shake-up at our house, as I have not been a stickler about fruits and veggies (having had a rather severe aversion to all things green as a child!). My philosophy was always that they would grow to like things as they matured, while my husband would have preferred to serve the "right" foods at dinner and make them eat them, like it or not. Well, turns out he was right (yes, hubby, you were RIGHT).
This is not going to be pretty--my girls are used to being able to fix themselves something other than what I have served if they do not care for my dinner. No more. However, this is clearly in their best interests, and if I could back up the clock and do this part of my parenting over, I definitely would. Bless the nutritionist for not scolding me, but instead encouraging me to instill these healthier habits now, before it truly is too late. Wish me luck! I can only imagine the squawks I will soon hear!
Good luck, and good for you for trying to instill better eating habits for your whole family. I can't stand cooked vegetables. I do like pretty much all fruit and salads. I don't usually make vegetable dishes for dinner, but I do put heaps of carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, red and green peppers, and onions on all our plates. I refuse to be a short order cook, so if the kids don't like what I make...tough luck. However, my husband is a pretty bland eater, so I don't cook anything fancy. Chicken, pork, beef. My youngest (as well as myself) are candy magnets. I have to watch him, because he'll eat the sugar all day long if I'd let him.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with these changes!
It is so hard! My middle daughter will try just about anything, and she actually LIKES a lot of it (you should see the two of us attacking a bag of edamame--we sprinkle the pods with sea salt and devour the whole bag!). My youngest will try things sometimes. The eldest stopped eating anything veggie-like as soon as she came out of the high chair. We'll see how this goes--just cooking one meal will be a nice change! I really appreciate your support.
ReplyDeleteSo proud of the changes that you are about to make in y'alls diet!
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