tell me your "food rules" for the kids
 

i need to go over this again :bag mine have changed through the years depending on stage of life (or more accurately stage of pregnancy/babyhood i am dealing with) anyway we are once again moving out of the "yummy" convenience food to the "bleck" real food that includes green things:giggle

anyway, i want to figure out my firm, but understanding food rules for the kids.

so what are yours? everyone takes a bite, nobody has to take a bite, try it but you can have xyz if you don't like it, try it but you will be hungry if you don't eat, sit at the table til you eat it, put it in the fridge for tomorrow if you don't...

Re: tell me your "food rules" for the kids
 

I only buy things I'm willing to let them eat.

Re: tell me your "food rules" for the kids
 

Mine is four. Hair needs to be in a ponytail for yogurt and spaghetti. She has to have not sweet foods with sweet foods (she has recently discovered how amazing sugar is) and she can only have a little cheese at a time (she is scared of pooping so we try to keep her going regularly) and if she eats a granola bar she needs to take bites and not just dig for chocolate chips.

Re: tell me your "food rules" for the kids
 

the buying is a good point,and actually because of the babies corn allergy, only good food is coming in. but i guess i should say too, when you make say roast chicken with green beans and mashed potatoes, what happens when they don't want to eat any of it, or maybe only will eat the mashed potatoes. do you let them eat a banana instead? if they don't eat their dinner and you were planning on having a dessert that night will you still let them eat the dessert?

Re: tell me your "food rules" for the kids
 

A few quick thoughts:
~ Eat only at the table or out on the deck.
I allow some dinner substitutions, such as:
~ If I am making a cooked vegetable that I know is not a favorite, I will put out a raw vegetable also that I know they all like.
~ My ds is not a fan of most starches, so I will usually have bread for him.
~ Yes, you have to eat dinner if you want desert.
~If I don't want them to eat it, I don't buy it. For example, we don't have soda in the house. (But they can have it for a special occasion, such as if it is served at a party.)
~ I do keep special snacks just for their school lunches and they are not allowed to eat them otherwise. (They realize that if they did, we wouldn't have any left for lunches & we want their lunches to have good stuff.)
~ I always have fresh fruit, yogurt, and cheese sticks available for them for snacking.
~ We have a fruit or vegetable with every meal.

Re: tell me your "food rules" for the kids
 

At mealtime, you can eat what is offered or you can have a plain piece of bread instead (plain means nothing on it, but you can have as many pieces as you like. Our bread is 100% whole wheat, very basic bread- whole wheat flour, water, salt, yeast, so no chemicals but it's not organic)

You have to ask if you want a snack. Sometimes I say yes, sometimes I say no (depends on how soon until meal time, how long until next meal time, etc). They have to clear what they want with me. Sometimes I say yes to what they want, sometimes I say no and give a few other choices.

With four kids I have to really pay attention to what I have the capacity to deal with in terms of mess in the kitchen. I don't want to clean the kitchen all day.

Sometimes we have junk food but usually not. Generally I will buy one treat when I go to the store. It's usually gone within 2 days. So there isn't junk food around all the time.

Re: tell me your "food rules" for the kids
 

I buy Amy's Black Bean Soup and Lentil Soup for those nights when the grown up dinner is totally unappealing. And that particular recipe may have been a hit with the kids the previous time it was served. :shrug3

If I offered plain bread, that's ALL they would eat. :giggle Different kids!

Re: tell me your "food rules" for the kids
 

That's funny. :) In any case, I think it's good to offer something else. Food is highly personal and I remember choking down food I hated and how awful that felt as a kid. So I would offer an alternative that you know they don't hate, but also don't love, so that even a dinner that was just okay they would eat instead of whatever the alternative is, but it's there if they truly can't stand the dinner that you make.

Re: tell me your "food rules" for the kids
 

For mine, if she doesn't want to eat various stuff on the plate, I usually tell her that is fine. I will remind her that the food she wants is only good for giving her energy right away, or tasting really yummy, but the other food is good for things like helping her body fight germs and stay full a long time and get strong. Sometimes that reminder gets her interested in the rest, sometimes not. Whatever.

For dessert without dinner, no. I let her know that dessert tastes really good but that if that is all she has, her tummy will not stay full and she'll feel sick like George did after he ate bunches of chocolate in the Curious George story. If she wants some of the dinner after all, and then some dessert, that will be fine.

Re: tell me your "food rules" for the kids
 

Our food rule: We'll serve it to you, if you want it: eat it. If you don't want it you can wait until we are done eating and have apple sauce, (scrambled eggs- depending on the kid, if it is a child that really needs the protein we'll gladly cook up some scrambled eggs:shrug3), or PB bread.

Usually they'll try it while they wait for us to finish eating. The Words "yuck, gross, disgusting, or awful" are not allowed at the table. It's okay not to like it, but you may not bad mouth some thing we worked hard to prepare. You can say "I don't think I like this kind of food". If they use impolite language they are excused until the meal is done.

They also have to sit at the table and remain seated until they're done, they can get up and leave if they're done though as long as they clean their hands and face before they leave the kitchen.

Eta: we don't do dessert or anything sweet after dinner unless it is a Birthday. We usually eat dinner late and they go right to bed (or into that routine) as soon as we're done. They often eat a large snack/meal at 4.

Re: tell me your "food rules" for the kids
 

There are some things I know my kids truly do not like, so I honestly don't serve them those or require them to eat it. But that list is super short (DD1 is cooked carrots but only big chunks in a side dish, dd2 is shrimp and DS is gravy) and it doesn't take a huge amount of effort on my part to not serve them those, so I don't.

That said, I also have the no impolite words about the food. Many times the meal is just not something they love, you know? In that case, often if I just say "I know it isn't your favorite, but you don't hate it either, so please let's just all eat it and be done, ok?" If they are super not wanting to eat (and I am wracking my brain but cannot think of a time where they actually opted for this), they are welcome to a PB and J with a glass of milk instead. Yes, they could still have desert or whatever afterwards.

Re: tell me your "food rules" for the kids
 

They have to take as many bites as years old they are.

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Re: tell me your "food rules" for the kids
 

Our rule is that they fill their own plates (or dictate to us how much they'd like if it's something that we have to scoop for them) and they have to eat whatever they put on their plates. They only *have* to get at least 3 bites' worth of each thing served, but they have to eat all of what they get. It's been a *really* helpful rule in our house.

Nothing else is offered if they don't like what is served. We've never had a problem with one choosing to go hungry, even if they don't particularly care for the meal. If they start to gripe about the food, we cheerfully jump in with prompts along the lines of, "Why don't you try saying, 'Thank you so much Mama for working so hard to cook this meal for us?'"

Snack time is at 3pm. We only eat at meal and snack times.

Re: tell me your "food rules" for the kids
 

My kids have never refused an entire meal so I'm not sure what I'd do if that would happen regarding dessert. Generally, no sweets on an empty stomach is how we do things, though. One of my kids must eat a high protein diet or he's an absolute mess. Thankfully, he likes protein-rich foods.

Re: tell me your "food rules" for the kids
 

i should add most of the time i am a "one pot wonder" cook:shifty although i am trying to branch out and do more sides. but much of the time we are just eating one main dish that has everything in it (like a soup, or stew, or even like tonight i just did ham and cheese omelets bc i needed something quick) and so then they sometimes can't just eat part of the meal