Dinnertime Battles

06/05/2017

Dinnertime Battles

Kids are persistent creatures who demand to be fed multiple times a day. That adds up to a lot of mealtimes, and a lot of food: wasted food.

While breakfast and lunch can be frustrating, I find supper downright nightmarish. It’s the end of the day; everyone is tired and burnt out. But there’s still one more meal to get through. Right when we walk in the door from school, my four-year- old is demanding a snack and what she eats, the toddler has to have too. Once snacks are out of the way, there’s the constant whining for dinner. It’s always a rush, always stressful, and always exhausting.

And even worse, once we finally sit down to eat the kids don’t even want it! The toddler loves to throw the food morsel by morsel off his tray, and my daughter enjoys sitting there drinking water while avoiding her fork.

So what’s a mom to do? Well I haven’t figured that out yet. I mostly try to enjoy my own meal, hoping that they start to receive the same nutrients by osmosis (I’m not sure this one works!). The other thing I do is trying to meal plan in advance. I find if I can plan meals that I know the kids like than the success rate goes up. It’s not easy though, just when I think they love something they change their minds! But it does go a long way in saving my sanity when I know what to make that night. And finally, I just try to have patience. The dinner time rush is a lot to handle but the kids are still learning different tastes and table manners.

So hang in there mama, this can’t last forever. And hopefully before I know it, the kids will be making me dinner (a girl can dream!).