The early years of life are important to the establishment of healthy eating habits. What, and how, a child eats now will set the stage for the rest of life's culinary show, determining whether or not she'll appreciate new tastes and textures, or be less adventurous in her food choices; whether or not she'll prefer preparing healthy meals from fresh ingredients or opt for over-cooked, over-salted and preservative-laden convenience foods from boxes, cans and drive-thrus.
How we, as parents, relate to food is also of extreme importance. Our children aren't influenced only by what we feed them, but how we ourselves eat. What kind of message is it sending when all of your drinks are neon-colored and come in plastic bottles, or all of your meals are in black trays coming from the microwave?
Infancy and toddlerhood mark the perfect time to establish healthy eating habits in our children and reassess our own ways of eating. That is why I am writing this blog.
How we, as parents, relate to food is also of extreme importance. Our children aren't influenced only by what we feed them, but how we ourselves eat. What kind of message is it sending when all of your drinks are neon-colored and come in plastic bottles, or all of your meals are in black trays coming from the microwave?
Infancy and toddlerhood mark the perfect time to establish healthy eating habits in our children and reassess our own ways of eating. That is why I am writing this blog.
I'm no nutritionist, but...
I'm no nutritionist, but I am a parent with goals:
- To sit down at an Italian restaurant without having to order chicken fingers off a Kid's Menu.
- To prepare a healthy meal for my family without having to prepare something else for the kids.
- To never call a peanut butter sandwich "lunch."
- To never have to buy white bread.
- To never have to bribe my children with dessert to finish their vegetables.
I firmly believe that the expectation of children to prefer chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese and other such foods is a self-fulfilling prophecy, a stereotype that we hear so often that it's ingrained in our culture and we subconsciously let it happen. It doesn't have to be that way.
Documenting the Culinary Journey
Now that my daughter, who will be turning one in about a week, has thoroughly rejected purees, I have found immeasurable joy in cooking meals for her and watching as she eats them with gusto.
Previously, my daughter ate a few purees that I would prepare myself, or commercial baby food. The latter was always sadly disappointing, stuffed full of carrots or juice to make otherwise savory meals sickeningly sweet, because Gerber has decided that babies "prefer" that. Everyone knows that pear juice has no place in lasagna, for example, but there it is in the jarred juvenile version. When my daughter tried my mom's lasagna all mushed up with a fork for the first time earlier this week, she was in heaven. Mozzarella cheese blanketed a melange of spiced ground beef, ricotta cheese and garlicky spinach sandwiched between tender noodles all dripping in a delicious marinara - no sweeteners added.
Despite the decidedly "adult" taste of the lasagna, my daughter devoured it. She wouldn't even take a second bite of the jarred variety, scrunching up her nose and cringing at the first bite. Really, who would take a second bite?
Previously, my daughter ate a few purees that I would prepare myself, or commercial baby food. The latter was always sadly disappointing, stuffed full of carrots or juice to make otherwise savory meals sickeningly sweet, because Gerber has decided that babies "prefer" that. Everyone knows that pear juice has no place in lasagna, for example, but there it is in the jarred juvenile version. When my daughter tried my mom's lasagna all mushed up with a fork for the first time earlier this week, she was in heaven. Mozzarella cheese blanketed a melange of spiced ground beef, ricotta cheese and garlicky spinach sandwiched between tender noodles all dripping in a delicious marinara - no sweeteners added.
Despite the decidedly "adult" taste of the lasagna, my daughter devoured it. She wouldn't even take a second bite of the jarred variety, scrunching up her nose and cringing at the first bite. Really, who would take a second bite?
As I was chopping whole-wheat spaghetti hot and fresh from the pot into tiny baby-sized pieces last night, I thought to myself, "This could be an idea for a new blog!" And so here I am, documenting our culinary undertaking mostly to keep myself motivated but to also inform and inspire anyone who comes across this blog to start cooking healthy meals for their kids as soon and as often as possible!
I can't guarantee timely updates, since I'm a stay-at-home mom whose daughter is turning one in a week, and whose son will be born a month after that. Time will slip away from me for a little while, but I promise I'll write as often as I can!
I can't guarantee timely updates, since I'm a stay-at-home mom whose daughter is turning one in a week, and whose son will be born a month after that. Time will slip away from me for a little while, but I promise I'll write as often as I can!
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