What do your kiddos eat?

One of the things that I never anticipated about motherhood is that nagging, incessant instinct to want to continually feed my kiddo.  I am always worried, Is he eating enough?  Is he getting enough fruits and vegetables?  Is he eating too much sugar?

I'm sure these questions don't surprise the seasoned mother.  I worry that Dylan is too skinny and that his daily PB&J intake is way too high.  I offer him new foods all the time, with about a five percent success rate.  That means with about every 100 new foods, new meals that I offer him, Dylan will eat around 5 of them.  And by eat, I mean he'll try them... most of the time spitting them out and making a funny face.

Dylan, on a really good day, will eat eggs & toast or pancakes for breakfast,
PB&J for lunch,
Maybe a tiny bit of chicken for dinner... maybe.  And strawberry milk.
And some fruit or crackers for snack.

I try not to get discouraged.  I know I'm not the only mother out there with a picky eater.  But sometimes it can get a bit overwhelming preparing snacks and meals that repeatedly get turned away.  I am continually reading up on advice online and I have seen the same things repeated over and over.  "Kids will eat when they're hungry."  "Refined sugars are horrible for them."  "No fast food!"  And the classic, "My kids only eat what we eat because we don't give them another option."

That is all fine and good for some parents, but I am also a strong advocate for the principal that every child is different and, therefore, may have different tastes, needs, etc.  And I also believe that some things are okay in moderation.  And, yes, I am talking about the occasional McDonald's nuggets and over-processed, refined, sugariest of the sugary snacks.

Sometimes life is busy and we are a lucky generation that we have that last resort fast food to fall back on in case we are out running errands when our kids start fussing and we forgot to pack their favorite crackers.  Or that package of artificially-flavored fruit snacks that don't have one natural ingredient in them can also come in handy when we are at the store or the post office or we just need them to be quiet and pre-occupied for a few minutes.  I am certainly not above these things.

However, when we are at home, as we often are, I do like to keep it on the "healthier" end of the spectrum.  But when I am thinking about what to prepare for dinner, I often get overwhelmed and frustrated at the prospect of making another Mommy-fail of a meal.  So I am always open to advice, particularly kid-friendly recipes.  Like I said, I do a lot of online research, but I would love to hear from other parents as well.  Especially from you...

I am curious.  What do your kiddos eat on a typical day?  Do they eat three square meals?  Or are they grazers?  Do they eat, or at least try, everything offered to them?  Does texture bother them?  Do they have any quirks or food sensitivities?  Can their sliced apples touch their macaroni and cheese on their plate or will that trigger a complete meltdown?  Do they eat at the table?  What is your favorite memory, involving food, of your child?

I want to hear about it!  I want to hear your advice, your success stories, your epic kitchen fails, your kid-friendly recipes, your stories!  I am always open to a good discussion.  I love hearing from other parents.  So please comment, either here on the blog or on Facebook and tell me, What do your kiddos eat?

Dylan's first solid food feeding.
He seemed more inclined to appease us back then when his food only consisted of breast-milk mixed with baby cereal.