Diner Daze

One of my biggest goals the past few months has been to work on the kids eating habits. It was actually very easy to eliminate most of the snacking by keeping them busy with other things. I also knew that if I got rid of the snacking they would eat better at mealtimes. Madeleine was easy. On school days she gets home late enough in the afternoon that we don't have time for a snack before dinner. And, she's so hungry that she'll pretty much eat whatever I put in front of her. :)

Harrison was a different story. There were nights that he ate almost nothing on his plate. I can't stand the thought of him going to be hungry (and getting up in the middle of the night wanting to eat) so he always had a big glass of milk with some fruit or yogurt before bed if needed. I know, I'm a softie! We kept encouraging him to try food on his plate and after awhile he did & realized that he likes a lot of new foods! His current favorites are grilled chicken, salad, and broccoli. I think he'd eat grilled chicken every night if I'd make it.

This has also made me wonder: All of the kids ate whatever we gave them as babies/toddlers. I mean, Charlotte will eat anything as long as we are eating it.....except green beans. :) Last night she picked every single one out of her vegetable soup before eating the rest! So, when did that change? Why did that change? Did they develop preferences or did I stop giving them food from our plates? Probably both, I think. So it was time for me to "man up" and undo some of these bad/picky habits.

And, while I wanted the kids to eat what Matt and I are eating, I also wanted to make them open to at least trying new foods. I think our experiment has been quite a success!

Dinnertime -- Grilled Chicken, Broccoli and Rolls.

Same for Madeleine, with carrots added.
Amost finished! I should have taken a pic of his plate at the end -- all clean!