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.