For as long as I can remember, I have always had a love affair with food. Eating it, preparing it, talking about it, reading about it...even daydreaming about it.
When I was young, I would delight in having the opportunity to assist my parents in the kitchen, and some of my earliest memories are of standing by their sides just waiting for the chance to "help." Gradually, I was able to assume more responsibility as I demonstrated my aptitude, and eventually I was able to take over the Saturday morning ritual of making pancakes for breakfast. When I got a bit older, I would ride my bike to the library and borrow Cooking with Regis and Kathie Lee, a tome which guided me through my first solo adventures in the sweet (fudge) and savory (baked beans). As I accumulated more knowledge and experience, so too did my confidence grow, and by the time I was a freshman in high school, I was making apple pies from scratch; any baker will tell you toiling with pie crust dough is not for the faint of heart, but I mastered it and enjoyed it. Being adept in the kitchen wasn't just a matter of practicality as far as I was concerned, but it was also one of creativity and passion. In my family, food was undoubtedly love, just as it is in so many other families. For me, it became something more. Food was science. Food was art. Food was fun.
Fast forward to life as a stay-at-home mom. These days, it is very easy to allow food to become just another chore. Amidst diaper changes, temper tantrums, playground visits, books, rounds of hide and seek, naps, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, often food is reduced to just a matter of sustenance, not one of creativity or enjoyment. Meal preparation usually takes three to four times longer than it normally would because there is a tiny little human demanding my attention. Peruse, if you will, the following exchange; something like this can be heard each and every morning between the hours of 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. in our house:
Sofia: "Baby hungry."
Me: "Okay, honey. What would you like to eat?"
Sofia: "Mommy hold you."
Me: "Okay, honey. But aren't you hungry?"
Sofia: "No. Mommy hold you."
Me: "Okay."
Sofia: (after being picked up) "Baby hungry."
Me: "Okay, honey. What would you like to eat?"
Sofia: "Baby want pancake."
Me: "Okay, honey. But to make pancakes, Mommy has to set you down."
Sofia: "Noooooo!"
Me: "Okay. What would you like to eat instead of a pancake?"
Sofia: "Baby want pancake."
Me: "Mommy can make pancakes for you, but I have to set you down. I need to use
both hands to make the pancakes."
Sofia: "Noooooo!"
Well, you get the idea. The exchange could go on indefinitely. How to save my sanity? Make the toddler my sous chef!
As sous chef de cuisine in my kitchen, Sofia's job duties consist of dumping and stirring. For pancakes, she will dump the ingredients into the bowl after I have measured them out and then will stir them as she sits on the kitchen floor, bowl cradled on her lap. For guacamole, she will dump the ingredients into the bowl after I have chopped them and then will mix them. For anything, she is always available for taste-testing, just like her daddy.
Sure, this new approach is even more time-consuming and labor intensive than just breaking every couple of minutes to attempt to distract/occupy/pacify/amuse Sofia while preparing a meal on my own, but where is the fun in that? With my sous chef by my side, I can usually make dinner with very little frustration and no tears - two ingredients that really aren't called for in any of my recipes. The relationship I am cultivating with her in the kitchen reminds me of my own childhood and makes me hopeful that Sofia will grow up with an appreciation for cooking and creativity, too. Seeing the pride on her face as she "helps" is such a reward, and hearing her tell her daddy how she contributed to the meal ("Daddy, I dumped the onions! I stirred soup!") is just darling. And aside from all of these wonderful perks is one that I couldn't have anticipated. Because she is often involved in meal preparation, Sofia already seems to have some investment in eating beyond her usual interest; she has some ownership in the meal, and with that ownership comes a willingness to eat things she might normally refuse. Win-win!
I'm already looking forward to taking her to the library to borrow her first cookbook. And you better believe it'll be one with a fudge recipe in it.
Showing posts with label eating. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eating. Show all posts
Friday, April 3, 2015
Monday, December 29, 2014
Toddler Eating/Meals
One of the biggest things I was worried about when I was pregnant and once Jase was born was what he was going to eat as a toddler. I'm not sure what brought on this worry, but I assume it was all of the books I saw in stores about toddler food, the fancy plates for kids, ect. I know I was also worried about having a picky eater. Both my husband and I eat pretty much anything (aside from the I hate foods) and I was worried if I had a picky eater I would be super frustrated. I was also worried about making separate meals for Jase because, lets face it, I'm lazy and don't want to.... I don't want to make more food then I need to! Here I am today and I can say most days Jase is a great, well rounded, eater. I don't think this is because of anything my husband and I did, but mostly what we didn't do. Also I can only speak from having a 1.5 year old, he still has growing to do and his eating habits maybe be different next year.
We started Jase on pureed food and basically offered him all options, the only thing I stayed away from was stuff with meat because pureed meat just grossed me out. Once we saw that pureed food was no longer satisfying him we started adding in real food. From this time, Jase started to eat what food we had on the table, at this time is when he started to get an opinion on things he liked and things he didn't like. For example he loved pureed peas, hates regular peas. Just the other week I finally got him to eat guacamole, he's been turning down avocados and guacamole since day one of really food.
Today Jase eats all sorts of stuff and his pallet surprises us daily with some of his favorite foods being most all meat, kale, carrots and celery. Other favorite foods are anything sweet, like cookies, muffins and cake. Point being he's pretty well rounded and will choose healthy food over non nutritious food just like an adult does. They only thing my husband and I have been consistent with is offering Jase what we're eating. We also don't stop offering a food he at one point refused, he may change his mind in a week, month, day or never.
For dinner he eats what I make, sometimes he won't eat everything we offer, but he doesn't get another option. The only time he does get something different is when he's not feeling well. Now, I don't think we are strict about this so much out of wanting him to be a good eater, but out of wanting him not to be a bad one that we would have to cater to. Again, I'm lazy and not making two dinners. Lunch time is when we bend a bit about meals. For example I may make him a PB&J and myself a turkey sandwich. For consistency though, I still offer him adult food, he just gets smaller portions.
Jase may not eat everything offered at meal time, I try my best not to let that bother me. There are nights when I make a meal and all he eats is the meat, or only the fruit, ect. Jases' pediatrician told me at his one year appointment that I need to focus on his whole week of food intake instead of his day or meal intake at his age. Toddlers have days, just like us, that maybe they don't want chicken or the veggies you cooked, but maybe tomorrow they'll eat everything they missed out on the prior day. My child, just like every child, has days where all he eats are gold fish crackers and those days are hard, but I try to remember to look at the big picture. This has helped me relax a lot and also realize, overall, we are lucky to be blessed with a child that eats well without too much effort.
Because of everything I've just written, I'm afraid I don't have any clever toddler meals to tell you about. I'm very basic and just can't bring myself to cut my child's veggies and fruit into stars to get them to eat, I just don't have it in me. What I can say is that if a child is hungry, they will eat what you offer (of course this is allergies and other sevear things aside). Just in case for the future I am also holding onto all all the toddler meal books I have because hopefully we'll have more children and maybe that one won't be so easy. ;-).
What ways do you get your toddler to eat a well rounded diet. What did you do that worked, what didn't, what would you change?
<3Lindsey
We started Jase on pureed food and basically offered him all options, the only thing I stayed away from was stuff with meat because pureed meat just grossed me out. Once we saw that pureed food was no longer satisfying him we started adding in real food. From this time, Jase started to eat what food we had on the table, at this time is when he started to get an opinion on things he liked and things he didn't like. For example he loved pureed peas, hates regular peas. Just the other week I finally got him to eat guacamole, he's been turning down avocados and guacamole since day one of really food.
Today Jase eats all sorts of stuff and his pallet surprises us daily with some of his favorite foods being most all meat, kale, carrots and celery. Other favorite foods are anything sweet, like cookies, muffins and cake. Point being he's pretty well rounded and will choose healthy food over non nutritious food just like an adult does. They only thing my husband and I have been consistent with is offering Jase what we're eating. We also don't stop offering a food he at one point refused, he may change his mind in a week, month, day or never.
For dinner he eats what I make, sometimes he won't eat everything we offer, but he doesn't get another option. The only time he does get something different is when he's not feeling well. Now, I don't think we are strict about this so much out of wanting him to be a good eater, but out of wanting him not to be a bad one that we would have to cater to. Again, I'm lazy and not making two dinners. Lunch time is when we bend a bit about meals. For example I may make him a PB&J and myself a turkey sandwich. For consistency though, I still offer him adult food, he just gets smaller portions.
Jase may not eat everything offered at meal time, I try my best not to let that bother me. There are nights when I make a meal and all he eats is the meat, or only the fruit, ect. Jases' pediatrician told me at his one year appointment that I need to focus on his whole week of food intake instead of his day or meal intake at his age. Toddlers have days, just like us, that maybe they don't want chicken or the veggies you cooked, but maybe tomorrow they'll eat everything they missed out on the prior day. My child, just like every child, has days where all he eats are gold fish crackers and those days are hard, but I try to remember to look at the big picture. This has helped me relax a lot and also realize, overall, we are lucky to be blessed with a child that eats well without too much effort.
Because of everything I've just written, I'm afraid I don't have any clever toddler meals to tell you about. I'm very basic and just can't bring myself to cut my child's veggies and fruit into stars to get them to eat, I just don't have it in me. What I can say is that if a child is hungry, they will eat what you offer (of course this is allergies and other sevear things aside). Just in case for the future I am also holding onto all all the toddler meal books I have because hopefully we'll have more children and maybe that one won't be so easy. ;-).
What ways do you get your toddler to eat a well rounded diet. What did you do that worked, what didn't, what would you change?
<3Lindsey
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