Picky Eaters and Not Apologizing for How I Feed My Family

Toddlers won’t starve themselves. I have to keep telling myself that. Especially at dinner my daughter seems to eat so little, despite the variety that I try to put in front of her. I know that the variety is not as diverse as it could be, especially since I work full-time and don’t often cook at home, but… wow. Sometimes I wonder how she has energy enough to keep growing. When I was a kid, I ate everything in front of me and asked for seconds yes please.

The Mayo Clinic’s first suggested item is to “Respect your child’s appetite — or lack thereof”. I’m starting to think that much of parenting is just acceptance and channeling that inner peace that zen masters seem to have found. Maybe they had difficult children.

Whenever I see articles about ‘feeding your family on a budget’, the focus seems to be on preparing items for a reasonable cost but still cooking. That’s great if you have the time, but I actually don’t have time after my daughter goes to bed to spent 30 minutes prepping food for the next day. That is not the most effective use of my time. So, I rely on a few things:

• Know what takeout is healthy and don’t be ashamed of it. Panera is my friend, for my health and my daughter’s, even if I do sometimes let her indulge in a bit of their flipflop cookies. They offer salads, healthy sandwiches, soups, apples, and yogurt. I don’t feel bad serving her this kind of takeout, but I would if my only takeout options were burgers and fries.
• Buy easy items in bulk. Organic canned green beans are easy to open and have ready to eat in seconds. Keeping several cans in my pantry gives me a healthy, easy side dish, and buying in bulk generally saves money.
• The microwave is my friend. At night, I can’t spend 30 minutes hands-on preparing things, but I can spend a few seconds prepping a pasta and water in a bowl and spend time working while that spends about 15 minutes in the microwave. I’ve prepped Annie’s Alfredo Shells & Cheddar for the next dinner this way. Just put a good amount of water in the bowl with the pasta, drain it when it’s tender (~15 min but check after 10), and mix in the seasoning packet. I add canned tuna or peas to bulk it up and get more protein in.
• Don’t apologize. I try to take my daughter to a restaurant at least once a week so that she can get more complex, prepared food, but I will not apologize for the fact that during the week, I cannot be a gourmet chef for her right now. I used to cook a lot more, and I enjoyed it. But, at this point in my life, with my career and home demands as they are, spending so much time on making her food marginally better is not worth the time, work, and emotional drain on me. I cannot be perfect at everything all the time, and popping open a can of green beans instead of going to the farmers market and prepping fresh ones is a trade-off that I am willing to make right now. I would rather spend that time and work on other ways to take care of my family, including taking care of myself.

Parents, be proud and unashamed. Sometimes you need to tell the world to mind its own darn business.

Sources and Further Reading:

• “Children’s nutrition: 10 tips for picky eaters”. Mayo Clinic. 6 Sept 2014.
• Geary, Dr. Natalie. “6 Rules for Feeding Your Toddler”. Gaiam.
• “Finicky Eaters”. University of Pittsburgh.