Food

If you're not sure, suck it and see!

Eeek! Do I really dare go there? I know food is one of the things parents can struggle with most when kids are small and I certainly don't have any magic answers. We are far from perfect in our house. The boys eat far too many snacks- and not necessarily healthy ones, they have pretty rubbish table manners, they revert to eating with their hands and will get down and wander off mid-meal etc etc. BUT, they do eat! They enjoy food, will eat fruit and veg, and they're pretty game about trying new things so it's not all bad.
I am afraid I'm not going to come up with any solutions for picky eaters here, I'm just suggesting a few ways to make food fun- because preparing and eating food can be a great activity in itself.

Watering the courgette.

I guess if you can start right from scratch then growing your own is a good way to introduce kids to fruit and veg. I posted at length about growing stuff back in November last year so I'll try not to repeat myself too much, but it is definitely true that if they've grown it themselves from a seed, nurtured the plant and then picked the results they are much more likely to want to eat it. Currently both boys seem to prefer eating raw veg to cooked, so being able to pull a carrot out of the ground or pick a tomato off a plant is by far the easiest way to get something fresh into them. Growing things is also a great way to spend time in the garden. The boys love digging and any excuse to turn on the outside tap is always welcome.
If you don't have a garden, or don't fancy a major growing project, even growing some cress on a bit of cotton wool in an old yoghurt pot is a good start for persuading them to eat something green. Or to make it more fun you can grow it in half an eggshell with a face drawn on, so that the cress looks like punky hair, and then let them give their egg a haircut when you want to eat the cress.

Topping off the perfect pizza.

When Danny was a tiny baby, cooking was one of the things I used to do with Zac to give him some full-on attention while Danny had his sleeps. Thanks to the cbeebies programme "I Can Cook!" we mastered various simple recipes- banana bread, salmon fishcakes, pizza etc (tho I left off singing the random songs!) They're generally quite clever recipes because they are properly adapted so that kids can do most of the work- eg they avoid the need for sharp knives etc.

You do have to have a reasonably high mess-tolerance-level to cook with small children, but I've yet to see the boys refuse to eat something they've cooked themselves.
Of course, they mostly love to cook sweet treats like little cakes and biscuits with lots of icing decoration, but I hope they will enjoy cooking enough that they'll want to make meals for us when they're a bit older. A man who can cook (and wants to do it) is definitely a catch in my opinion!!

Snails and chips!

That looks different, let's try it!

Having a new-taste-challenge can be fun. Martin and I are both reasonably adventurous about what we'll eat (although he can cope with much hotter food than I can!) Luckily the boys seem to have inherited this willingness to try new things, and like the excitement of eating something they've never experienced before- especially if it seems a bit risky. When we were in France on Danny's birthday we treated them to snails, and they were both prepared to give them a try- Zac actually really enjoyed them and ate lots.

Enjoying a chopstick challenge.

Other ways to make food fun are to think about using different utensils. Sometimes I appreciate having a break from trying to persuade them to use a knife and fork properly! We have some of those kids' chopsticks which are joined at the end and they love attempting to eat noodle dishes, like chicken chow mein, with them. They also invented a meal, which they have at least once a week, called "stick supper"! Martin and I had been eating some olives using a cocktail stick and the boys decided they wanted to eat their supper with one. It's a dead easy meal to sort out because I just see what's in the fridge that can be cut up small, and stick the bits on a plate. They often want to help prepare it, although this usually means they eat most of it before it gets to the table.

"Stick supper"

Anything from chunks of cheese, bits of ham or sausage,  hard-boiled egg, chopped carrot/peppers/cucumber, chunks of fruit or berries, olives, little pieces of pitta bread etc can be included, and if I'm feeling energetic I sometimes arrange them to make a pattern/ draw a face etc to make it look attractive. It's generally a pretty healthy mix of stuff and being able to eat it with a little stick seems to be all the motivation they need to eat it all up!

Lunch in the shade of the washing line.

The other thing you can vary is where you eat. If you're tired of talking table manners, maybe eating in the garden for a change, or just having a picnic on a rug on the floor where you can be a bit more flexible is more fun for everyone.

A picnic in the climbing frame.

We all love eating "al fresco"

 
Last year Martin's DIY project was to make a bbq area. If we'd known how few sunny days we were going to get we might not have made it a priority, but it is lovely to have somewhere we can all comfortably sit outside and we do eat out there pretty much any time the weather allows. The boys like helping put bits of veg on skewers and will turn the sausages on the barbecue with a bit of supervision.



So I'm going to counter the old "Don't play with your food.." message. Playing around a bit with how you approach mealtimes can make them a fun experience that adds to your day, rather than ending up as a hassle to be got through.

Not healthy, but at least you're learning to read!!

Check out this blog for loads of brilliant ideas for presenting food in a different and appealing way.