Feeding a family

Avatar for shandc
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Feeding a family
17
Mon, 12-27-2004 - 3:58pm

Hello all:

I need some tips for my new foray into SBD, since there's been a pretty major change in my situation!

My "new" boyfriend has a 5-y-o daughter, and they both eat at my house 2-3 nights a week now. He eats anything I put in front of him as long as I don't TELL him it's SBD, if his daughter isn't there, but when she is there I kind of have a dilemma on my hands...she's a picky eater and is used to being able to choose what everyone has for dinner because it's always been easier on him to just make one thing. So sometimes it's Mac N Cheese with hot dogs, sometimes it's picking up McDonald's on the way home, other times it's letting her eat that while her dad & I have something else.

Do any of you have any suggestions for how to be sneaky and start feeding them healthier meals when they're at my house without actually having to tell them that it's good for them, lol? Recipes for things picky children have enjoyed would be highly appreciated!!

On the plus side, she absolutely loves to help me cook, it's just convincing her that whatever we're cooking is worth eating that's the problem ;-)

Thanks!
Shan

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-19-2002
In reply to: shandc
Mon, 12-27-2004 - 5:32pm

Shan, these are good kid-friendly recipes! :)

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
In reply to: shandc
Mon, 12-27-2004 - 6:42pm

Shan I usually mix equal parts of regular pasta with whole wheat and serve as a side to whatever I cook (you can make a bunch, toss with olive oil so it doesn't stick, and reheat in the nuker).

Susan :)

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-27-2004
In reply to: shandc
Tue, 12-28-2004 - 3:34pm

Hi Shan,


My dd is much younger (15 months) but is already in that fun picky toddler mode when it comes to food so I can understand your frustration!


I have one word - soup!

   

Avatar for shandc
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
In reply to: shandc
Thu, 12-30-2004 - 9:55am

Thanks for the tips ladies!

The update...

I attempted to feed her broccoli the other night, with mixed success. Her dad is 100% behind the effort to clean up her eating habits, which is nice...we first tried to give her broccoli the way we were eating it (with herbs and Italian spices), and she refused. So I offered to melt some (reduced fat, part-skim) cheese over her portion and told her it was a special dish of "Cheese on Trees" just for her. She liked that idea and agreed to try a bite.......but then spit it out again because she could still taste the broccoli. In the end, she ate it all, but only because her dad promised that she could have ice cream for dessert if she did.

Which makes me wonder...one of my favorite tricks from teaching/being in teaching school, was the "conditioning" techniques we learned, where you encourage something by rewarding it every time it happens until it becomes a habit and then you gradually ease back on the rewards until they're just occasional reinforcements of a good habit.

I'm not sure I like the idea of using ice cream to bribe her to eat her vegetables, since to me it seems to defeat the purpose of bringing in healthy eating habits, but I DO like the idea of bribery in general in this situation...so, what SBD friendly desserts do your kids go gaga for that I could sneak in place of the ice cream? I'm planning to try the ricotta chocolate dip with fruit this week, but will probably be in need of new ideas once the novelty wears off of that one!

Thanks again!
Shan

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-06-2004
In reply to: shandc
Thu, 12-30-2004 - 1:46pm

Shan,


If ice cream makes a good bribe (not that I favor bribery) how about sugar free fudgecicles for a reward?


My daughter (5 in a few days) is very picky but is starting to losen up.

 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-19-2002
In reply to: shandc
Thu, 12-30-2004 - 2:41pm

Hi Shan, I'm glad to hear that the "cheesy trees" trick worked!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
In reply to: shandc
Sun, 01-02-2005 - 8:17pm

I think the bribe is a good idea! LOL.

In our house, we have a bedtime snack ritual. It's usually something the kids really like, such as cookies or a small dish of ice cream, or a popsicle. I don't see anything wrong with a sweet snack as long as they ate healthy throughout the day.

To conquer the "I don't waaaaant it" whines, we have a simple rule. If you don't eat your dinner (or at least a good effort...determined by ME), then you don't get dessert. If my daughter whines about not being hungry, I say "Ok, that's fine. Just remember that if you're not hungry for dinner, that means you're not hungry for a bedtime snack." If she just really doesn't like it after an honest attempt to try it, then she can have a peanut butter or cheese sandwich.

For family friendly meals, I often serve things like stirfry (rice optional for me), tacos (I have my taco meat and topppings on a salad), soup (kids and DH have bread, too), pasta with veggie marinara sauce (I have mine on spaghetti squash) etc. I have not had any trouble at all making DH, two kids (4 and 2) and myself happy with our dinners.

HTH!

Avatar for shandc
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
In reply to: shandc
Mon, 01-03-2005 - 11:30am

Thank you!

And another general question, lol (I am soooooooo not used to this having a kid around thing!!!!!)

There aren't any dangers to feeding her SBD-friendly foods when she's at my house if Mom is doing Atkins with her, right? I've been assuming not, since SBD foods are unprocessed and natural, but I want to make sure!!

Also, if Mom has her eating heavily on the meat/cheese end of the Atkins dietary range, and Dad and I are feeding her more of the good carbs, will those approaches work OK together or are they in danger of cancelling each other out in terms of weight loss? I would really, REALLY like to avoid an argument with her mother over this (although I can't imagine any mom objecting to her kid eating vegetables, lol) if it will slow down the goal of getting her to a healthy weight.

Any thoughts?

Shan

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-19-2002
In reply to: shandc
Mon, 01-03-2005 - 12:52pm

"There aren't any dangers to feeding her SBD-friendly foods when she's at my house if Mom is doing Atkins with her, right? I've been assuming not, since SBD foods are unprocessed and natural, but I want to make sure!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
In reply to: shandc
Mon, 01-03-2005 - 1:31pm

I totally agree with everything Maggie said!

My suggestion would be to talk about it with her Dad, and ask HIM to discuss it with the Mom. You don't need to be the "evil other woman" (LOL) at this stage in the game. It's really her parents' decision.

That said, in your house you can choose to offer healthy foods. If it's ok with Dad, then maybe you could focus more on fruits, veggies, beans and healthy grains when you serve her meals, knowing she is getting plenty of protein and dairy at her Mom's house.

Just don't get in the middle of it! My sister is a stepmom, so I've heard many of the pains of co-parenting. It's so hard on the kids to have 2 houses and 4 parents. Maybe you could choose to be the safe, soft place for her to turn when there is chaos everywhere else.

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