Ways in which I'm a strict mother - food

Source: thecraftingchicks.com via Marcia on Pinterest

I loved the comments from all of you where you said you're stricter than I am.

Love!

So I thought we should discuss them in a little more detail so I can catch some tips :)

Let's talk food.

We are still using The Notebook and, quite honestly, I think we're going to use it til my kids go to school :)

I started The Notebook because once Kendra came home, all ___ broke loose and my memory was shot from sleep deprivation and the craziness of newborn, prem twins.

I needed to regain a little bit of control and at least if anyone asked me anything I could refer to the book and answer with relative confidence. Instead of saying, "I have no idea what time her last bottle was or how much she had" (yes, it was that bad).

We love having the notebook for notes between V and us, and I can see when things change in their learning.

We adapted the categories over the two years and now keep track of times they eat and drink, and what that is, sleep times during the day and activities.

This is where D and I often have a chuckle in the evening when we see V writing "learning the alphabet" and "sang songs", etc. Too cute. It helps us feel a little more involved in their days.

We also seem like rock star parents when the kids go see the doctor or paed. When I took Connor the other week, I could tell her exactly when he started feeling out of sorts because V had a note that said, "Connor cried a lot today" LOL

Anyway, so we have some set things we feed the kids for each meal:

breakfast - weetbix, pronutro, oats (in winter)/ muesli (they had their first muesli on Spring Day - I thought they deserved something fun to celebrate the warm weather)/ maltabella (also in winter), toast with jam (C)/ cottage cheese (K), fruit and/ or yoghurt

lunch - bread/ toast with something protein (peanut butter/ cheese/ cottage cheese/ egg), and tomato/ cucumber/ etc. My children don't like their veggie part on the sandwich - they want it separate. In winter they also have soup most days. If they didn't want yoghurt after breakfast, they have it now.

snack - about a week ago, we had to move supper an hour later because they started waking at 4:30 am demanding milk (C) so we give them a fruit around 3:30.

supper - whatever we had the previous night, except curries - chicken a la King, spaghetti bolognaise, chicken and broccoli, kidney bean and tomato sauce on rice/ pasta/ baked potatoes, etc. Today they're having penne with a bolognaise sauce :)

My kids LOVE veggies. It's very weird but we're not complaining. We have to say, "eat your chicken and rice, and then you can get veggies". No jokes. And we hide the peas away til they've finished their food. No food, no veggies.

Also, have you ever heard a cute little boy say, "please Mummy have veggies" - it is TOO adorable. I must see if I can get it on video.


Notes

1. I don't allow snacks in between meals. I like them nice and hungry so they eat well. This tactic seems to have worked because I have very good eaters. Matter of fact, I'm still waiting for my toddlers to eat like toddlers so I can save some money :) When I went to ToddlerSense last year, the woman said toddlers typically eat two bites of a sandwich, a grape, one bite of a banana and that's it. Um, not mine. But I'm not complaining because when they display less than stellar eating habits (when sick) it is not fun and I stress that they're not getting enough food. But I never show them my fear :)
   
2. These are the options - my food or bread with peanut butter. Most times they eat my food but sometimes they opt for the bread.
3. I try to remember to write in The Notebook what they need to have the next day but if I forget, V knows and will feed them appropriately. I also have a special section in the freezer for the babies' extra meals (for when we have curries) so V knows to take their meals from there.
4. They have plain yoghurt 85% of the time because on Sundays I send those 100 ml tubs of yoghurt in their church lunch bag with a muffin each.
   
5. We only let them eat in the highchairs - I don't allow running through the house with food because I don't want clean-up to be any more difficult than it has to be. That said, they don't eat as well when we go out... but I'm prepared for the fussiness 5% of the time.
   
6. We also have a rule which they both know - "no bib, no food" - so if they take off their bibs, I say, "oh, have you finished eating?" and either it's yes, or they put those bibs back on.
   
7. If lunch is light (we've run out of fruit), then I'll allow a muffin each. I always have muffins in the freezer. I bake the ones for the kids with almost no sugar and at least half a cup of veg (pumpkin/ butternut). They love it and now that they've "twigged", they "steal" from the freezer.

Me Kendra, what are you eating?

K Muffin

Me Where did you get it, Baby?

K Freezer (with absolutely no hint that she's doing something wrong)

They do get about 50 - 75 ml of juice a day, diluted 1:3/ 1:4, depending on the juice. Orange is not as sweet as tropical fruit.

I don't allow sweets at all but now and again, I'll give them a wine gum each. I'll allow chocolate sooner than sweets after discussions with my work friend who has an ADHD boy and keeps very careful track of the E numbers and whatnot.

Now and again they'll get a cupcake (without icing).

I know I'm very strict on the food - I would rate myself a 9 here :)

How do you fare?

Also, what kinds of food do your kids eat?

PS if this is not your thing, here's a gorgeous blog I found today.