The Battle for Dinner
Lily loves chocolate. I do not just mean loves….. I mean looooooves chocolate “like you love your hubby” loves chocolate. I mean she is only 19 months and in love with chocolate. That is totally normal for a kid her age. And if I let her… she would ONLY eat chocolate for every single meal.
BUT …. The meal is divided into two parts. One the part you do as a parent and two the part she does as a kid.
1) Parents responsibility: prepare and make the meal, decide where the meal will be eaten, provide proper portions of each food of the meal
2.) Child’s responsibility: choose what to eat and how much.
I KNOW it sounds CRAZY, but it is 100% true. Lily use to love sweet potatoes and now she does not really care for them, but when I make them… I offer them. And this is the only grain that is offered. I do not cook 8 grains and hope she will eat one. I make one meal and everyone gets the same thing. If she does not eat it oh well.
If you start to cater to your kid, she/he will only eat the food he/she loves to eat. It is that simple. A parent must present the child with the right foods and not just offer pb&j or …. the kid will typically always choose the pb&j.
So sometimes Lily eats a TON. Sometimes Lily eats a little, but each dinner I cook only one meal. Keeps my mom brain sane and it keeps Lily trying new things.
Don’t give up momma! Your kid will learn to eat more meals and foods as you continue to provide them to him/her. It takes 7 times before a kid can even recognize a food. So when you think it is a no. I promise keep providing it and eventually he or she will love the foods you love.