Strange, Unusual, Different and Weird!

     Thad and I have been told that our children's eating habits and preferences are strange, unusual, different and even weird. Some have even told us that it's mean to feed them the way we do. Still, most people that we know say that they wish their children or grandchildren would eat the foods our kids eat. Are you wondering what our kids eat that others don't? It's simple. More than half of the food they eat is what I call old fashioned food. By that I mean they eat food the way it was prepared before fish sticks, chicken nuggets and lunchables were invented.
     Now I want to be very clear about something. My kids like fast food. I like some fast food. If I didn't know better I'd eat Wendy's french fries every day. But I do know better and I've seen what happens to children who are allowed to eat any and everything they want. They grow into adults who have a difficult time making good decisions about food and they often raise their own children with the same bad habits. So, although are allowed to eat hot dogs (we prefer certain brands over others) our children are not allowed to demand hot dogs instead of whatever other food has been prepared. If I make grilled chicken with a spinach salad and a pasta salad, that's what they eat. Whether we're eating out at McDonalds, Sonic, Juan's Flying Burrito, Salu', Thanh Thanh or Nola, we have no problem getting them to eat the food that is served. In fact, they prefer the sit down restaurants over the fast food places.
    Part of our success in getting them to eat all kinds of foods is attributable to the fact that we prepare and eat healthy food in our home and they've all been introduced to several types of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and other wholesome foods at a very young age. On top of that, they were not introduced to junk food until they were older and even then, it usually came from a source outside our home. I remember spending time during the holidays at my aunt and uncles home when our oldest child was about 18 months old. My uncle offered her a small, chocolate candy bar and she tried it. After he gave it to her my uncle asked me, "Does she like chocolate?" I told him, "I don't know. She never had it before." I didn't freak out about it because it was candy during the holidays and my uncle was just being his regular, sweetheart self. She (and Thad and I) had all kinds of "treats" that week but when we returned home our eating habits returned to normal. I'm not saying you have to give your kids steamed broccoli or roasted asparagus at every meal. I'm just saying they should be so accustomed to eating vegetables that it's no big deal. You can dice up all kinds of veggies, cook them in pasta sauce and serve it with spaghetti. You could slice fresh veggies and get the kids to help you put them on a take and bake pizza. Add vegetables to your lasagna or baked macaroni. You can even mix some into your eggs in the morning. After a while your children will be so accustomed to eating a variety of healthier foods that people may begin to call their eating habits strange, unusual, different or weird too.