Monday, May 11, 2009

On Mother's Day and the Feeding of Children

Ahh, Mother’s Day. I had a good one, thanks. I wish I had taken a picture of the M-O-M shaped pancakes my kids made for me. There was one low point - being wished a happy Mother’s Day by some college dudes who passed whilst I was gardening. My children were nowhere in sight! Do I have MOM tattooed on my forehead? How did they know?!?

I’ve been lately thinking about how to use this space for more kid-specific foods. I haven’t been sure what to advocate seeing as I never fully embraced our own family meals. True, we always eat dinner together. But we haven’t always eaten the same thing, a fact that’s driven me a bit crazy.

My kids know me to be fairly strict parent but I think I’ve been a pushover in the kitchen. My mother a steadfast rule about dinner - we had to eat what was put in front of us. You know what she said when we complained? “You don’t have to have seconds.”

My sister and I were allowed one free pass, a food we never had to eat. I picked lima beans. I’m sort of curious to try them again, fresh ones, but they’re hard to find. Is it possible that the lima bean has been discontinued??

My girls are largely vegetarians, assuming that’s what you call someone who doesn’t eat meat, vegetables, legumes, or whole grains excluding breads and cereals. It’s a wonder they’ve grown at all. (To be fair, they enjoy trout, salmon, artichokes, lettuce, hummus and olives.) Some nights are easier than others at dinnertime. If we’re having tacos, for example, they fill their shells with cheese, lettuce and guacamole. The other night when we had lamb burgers, I made them a pesto pizza with a premade whole grain crust from Whole Foods.

I wish I had taken my mom’s stance early on but I did always feel that I wanted my kids to look forward to dinnertime and be excited about their food. Some kids seem to pop out with a more adventurous palate and others need more time to grow into it. There’s no right answer, just whatever works for you. What works for you?

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