Main meals - do your kids eat what you do?

tiamai_d

We all eat the same. I think when DS1 was younger before DS2 came along I may have gave him nuggets and such, but then Jamie Oliver arrived on tv and our diets changed!

My family are chefs so I was always given the quick and easy way to make home cooked meals from scratch (like cornflour and milk for a quick white sauce). As a family we dont eat overly spicy food anyway, but the kids do try it (and have learned the properties of milk with a curry!)

When DS2 was a baby and being weaned onto solids he would get whatever we were getting (although I batch cooked more for when it was stuff he just couldnt eat), infact I fed my friends son for about a month after he refused his mums jars! He would only eat my cooking so I sent up tubs of frozen stuff for him!

Recently we finally managed to squeeze a proper dining table into our house, and the kids LOVE it. Its great eating round a proper table, they are also a lot better behaved because of it too! Its squeezed into a corner in the livingroom but I wouldnt give it up now I have it. Plus, the sofas stay a lot cleaner!

jellyhead

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote: »

I don't have room for a dining table.

WE don't either, but last month my husband removed the cupboard door and replaced it with a bead curtain, I have no idea why. We've got room for a table now, because we don't need room for a cupboard door to open. We bought a smallish table, but it has room for 4 chairs and we love it.

We're doing more painting and baking now, because there's a table to do it on instead of the tiny sitting room floor, or the little table I got for the toddler to sit at.

We all sit at the table for meals and it's really nice.

Anyway, I just thought I'd mention it in case you have a similar kitchen to ours, although I appreciate the removing the cupboard door and putting up a bead curtain isn't everyone's cup of tea!

tiamai_d

Got to add this...

does anyone else feel there is a 'stigma' attatched to having a dining table in yoru livingroom (if its small)? I felt it was very Pauline from Eastenders!

But I have changed my mind.

maybe we could start a trend, dining tables in the small livingroom are cool?! (honestly) LOL! :rotfl:

jellyhead

Poppy9 wrote: »

I wish my family would make suggestions as I'm fed up with the answer "anything" when I ask what they fancy for food that evening/tomorrow! Then when I cook anything it's not what they want!!!

My son asks for dumplings every day! He's skin and bone so a bit of suet won't harm him but it's torture for me because I could eat dumplings until I turned into one He only discovered them last month, so perhaps the novelty will wear off.

We eat the same meal most days, but we have different tastes. Husband and I like pizza but the children don't, so they have fish when we have pizza. I love cheese but the children are lactose intolerant, so I cook with cheese sometimes and they have something different. I cook different flavour fish because I don't like hot and spicy foods but the others do.

I wouldn't want to cook totally separate meals for us all but a bit of variation is no problem. I took most (but not all because i'm a meanie!) of the mushrooms and green beans out of my son's casserole tonight because he doesn't like them, and added carrot because he likes it.

My son was a very fussy eater but has grown more relaxed about trying different foods at around age 9. The dietician actually told me to cook spearate meals for him until he got over his phobias, and it seems to have worked. When he was small he wouldn't eat anything wet, but now he'll eat chilli, spag bol and casseroles.

frasersmum123

We eat together at around 5.30pm, we eat the same-ish meals, though I am a veggie, so for example we had spag bol tonight, and I divide the sauce in two before adding mince/quorn mince.Also, my hubby and DS1 love Baked Beans, whereas I cant stand them, so I would have peas if we have sausage and mash (Hubbys fave!)

We are lucky that we have a dining table in the kitchen as there is more room in there.

Both my older children have been bought up just having what we have, I dont add salt to my food so there has never been that problem.

belle2008

Me and my siblings were all brought up to eat the same as our parents, the idea of having seperate 'kids food' was unthinkable. If we didn't like it there was no alternative available. I have the same attitude with my son now, sometimes he refuses to eat more than a few mouthfuls, but i would never cave in and give him a different meal instead because he'll expect it every mealtime!

I once overhead another mum at school asking the teacher for advice because her little darling would only eat chocolate spread sandwiches for lunch. I thought, 'who's making the sandwiches and putting them in his lunchbox?!!!' If you consistently offer your child choc spread sandwiches/chicken nuggets/chips instead of 'proper' food then that's all they'll eat. Seems obvious, but this otherwise intelligent woman didn't seem to realise that. :rolleyes:

Naomim

I work, I come home and I cook one meal. We sit at the table. My DS is three so he is still working out what he does and doesn't like. I do however expect him to try what I put in front of him within reason. If he tries it and really doesn't like it then I will possibly do him something else but generally we all eat the same thing.

Naomi x

dogcat_2

There are four of us at home at the moment (there were five, but daughters just gone to Uni.) We all eat together, and at the same time at the kitchen table. We all chat and tell each other about our day. We all eat the same thing too. Tonight we had jacket spuds with grated cheese, roast chicken and baked beans. Yumm.......:D

carlamagee

i was just talking aout this to my boyfriend last week! DD is 11 months - and east the same as us, just a lot earlier than us and we currently eat in front of the tv, her in her highchair. i mentioned that as soon as she is going to bed a bit later and can have dinner along with us, we will be eating together al at the table.
rmy boyfriend and i eat the same meals - even if he is going to be home late, i will plate his up so he can reheat - may not be eating at same time, but certainly the same thing.

Lillibet_2

I'm clearly far to lax with my 3YO then:rotfl:
I work evenings until 7.30pm & hubby works some late shifts and by nature we both prefer a late dinner so we rarely eat before 8pm which is obvisuly too late for our son. I guess we eat together at the table 1-2 a week. Son gets whats on offer and if he doesn't want that I'm not about to prepare something else but if there is something ready else in the fridge he is usually welcome to it. We hardly have junk food so at least it is healthy, more often than not leftovers or "picnic food" like scotch eggs, sandwiches etc whcih I don't think are too bad. He doesn't get much sugar & no chocolate, chips only very very occasionally and other things tend to be home made with little salt so I am happy with his diet.
After my own childhood food hang-ups I made a consciousdecision not to turn mealtimes into a battle, as long as he is eating well & healthily I don't mind.;)