**Abbie holding fresh carrots, straight from our garden**

What kind of food education are our children getting?

While my husband and I were berry picking a few weekends ago, we got into a discussion about whether kids actually have an idea of where food comes from and how grateful we are that ours have the privilege of being able to be a part of the process, as we tend to our family garden and buy from small, local farmers.

Unfortunately, I believe that for most kids their view of food is nothing more than the unrealistic, seasonless food available at the grocery store. Chicken comes in breast form, skinless, boneless, in a plastic wrapped package. Carrots come in the shape of baby carrots, in a plastic bag with a bunny on the front. Applesauce comes in individually wrapped containers covered in foil. Watermelon and strawberries grow in December. Milk comes in plastic jugs, and fluffy white "wonder" bread doesn't resemble the grains it originated from in the slightest. 

In Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Barbara Kingsolver talks about a friend who didn't know that potato plants grow "up" (with the plant portion on the top, and the potatoes growing underground, along the roots). Quite frankly, until two years ago, neither did I. I couldn't have told you what a potato plant looked like or how it functioned in the slightest. I bet I'm not alone.

Children need an agricultural education. Regardless of whether they will be a food producer themselves or whether they will support the food industry through the choices they make and how they spend their dollars. They need to have the experience of visiting a farm, picking food from the ground or off the vine or  fruit tree. To see a cow be milked, or to watch eggs be gathered from a hen house. To know that chickens actually walked around with a head, feet, skin, feathers and bones before they became our tasty dinner.

If we cease to offer this kind of education, how will our children ever know how to provide for themselves in a distraught economy? Will they have the confidence or the knowledge to be able to live in a self-sustainable way, especially if the conveniences that we are blessed to have access to are no longer available? If they were to end up in a circumstance where they needed to, would they be able to learn and use the skills necessary to raise their food from the ground up?

Quite frankly, would we have the ability to sustain ourselves? As adults, who have been raised in this era of the Supermarket, what will we do if there ever comes a time when the bounty that we currently know ceases to exist?

How do we give our kids this necessary education in "Where Food Comes From 101"?

• Shop at produce markets or farmers markets. See food that doesn't reside in large grocery stores, in plastic wrap or foil packages. Talk to the farmers and get to know them. Learn about the different seasons, and which foods grow at which times of the year.
• Take field trips to farms, or visit friends who live on hobby or larger farms. Many places offer dairy tours, pumpkin patch hay rides, apple u-pick, honey-bee tours, etc.
• Find more local sources of food for your family, and share these sources with your children. My children come with me to purchase our meat from a small family farm. They've also visited the friends who are organic egg farmers (from whom we purchase our eggs), and have actually walked up to say hi to the chickens. They know that our weekly jars of raw milk come from a cow named Belle who eats green grass in a small town nearby.
• Grow something! There is something tremendous about watching food grow from a seed, to a little seedling, to a larger plant, and end up on your dinner table. There is also enormous ownership involved, and it is such a thrill to children to eat the carrots or potatoes that they helped to grow! It can be as small as a few herbs or some potted peas or tomatoes on your porch, or as large as a backyard garden that helps to feed your family.
• Discuss it with your children as you make food. Ask them where they think it came from, or how it grows? When I've cooked whole chickens in the not-so-distant past, my 4 year old daughter and I have had wonderful discussions about how these chickens used to be alive, how they had heads and feet and feathers. She now knows that our family supports farmers who raise these chickens so that they can be happy and healthy, until they are ready to be killed so that we can eat them as our dinner and that God uses them to help our bodies grow strong. Don't hide the realities of how foods are raised, and the process of how they end up on our table.

Are you concerned about the level of awareness that this generation of children has when it comes to where their food really comes from? What are you doing to give your children a real food education?

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Without further adieu, I'll let her take over and tell you about how we can retrain our children to have healthy eating habits, no matter where we are coming from...

Many of us have blown it and made mistakes and have lead our children down the aisle of bad health choices over the years. Some of us have done it though ignorance, continuing the bad habits of our own childhood, unaware that we are not only actively teaching our children the wrong way to go but setting them up for a lifetime of ill health and bad habits which will be both expensive and emotionally costly as well.

Some of us know we need to eat better but tend to justify with “Everyones else eats this so it must be OK.” And some of us know better but find it all so overwhelming and just do not know where to start.

I have been at or through all of these places at one time or another in my early life. But once you become aware that you need to make a change in your own eating and health habits how do you do it? What information can you trust? And greater still is the question, How can I undo all the damage and retrain my children's flesh to lead them to desire to make healthy choices for themselves?

There is good news. It can be done. The older the child is the more careful or deliberate you must be but success depends largely on how much of their hearts you hold, or how much they trust you. Keeping your children's heart's is the single most important thing to do as your child grows up. If they are willing to hear you and have an element of trust in your leadership you most certainly can retrain and educate your children to following you into better health habits.

The first thing you may need to do is apologize for teaching your children poorly or by neglect though your own example. Perhaps you need to confess your ignorance or neglect and then make a statement that you will be trying to improve on your habits and want the children to follow you.

Next you will establish a season of reeducation. Older children in their teen age years already are able to reason and discern well and the first thing to do is to find a good reliable source of information. I have found the best sources are books or portions of whole living books written by people who are passionate about what they believe in (as opposed to text books contracted by educational organizations). Providing them with the information respects them and is renewing their minds and also providing them with the inspiration they need to be motivated as well.

Read to them, as opposed to handing them a book, what you have found to be the first issue you want to tackle, such as harmful MSG or the dangers of high fructose corn syrup, whatever is your first priority. Reading aloud has many benefits in that it allows discussion, clarification and you can see their hearts quite obviously whether they are with you or not.

Be prepared ahead of time and make it a time of study or discovery. If you educate your children at home this will be much easier than if your children are at school, but you can still teach them if you have maintained that the parents are still the primary authority and teachers. (If not, you will need to re-establish this fact right away).

Then set the example. Cook that new way or eliminate that harmful sugar or MSG or whatever is come to your attention. Involve your child in the kitchen or in the new habit of label reading as much as possible. Share with them your successes and failures. Continue to impress on your child the benefits of the new healthy choice will bring them but also warn that there will be temptations and that you expect them to resist.

Establish the standard and expect them to keep it. You may need to revisit the season of reeducation frequently. Be aware that the flesh may well rise up in them especially in the area of sugar or white flour cravings. Treat their hearts gently but their flesh firmly.

The next is up to you to be consistent and firmly establish good eating habits yourself and if you have eliminated something that they desire, learn to replace it with a better and a more delicious choice. Eating healthy is a delightfully delicious experience but to make a radical and sudden change ....well tastes and cravings must take time and education to change as well.

One such instance was when I was teaching my children to choose water over pop. This had never been a problem before but the bonus free pop from our local grocery store on our weekly shopping trip seemed to be too much of a temptation. I persisted. It took some time for me to prove it was not free at all in that it would ultimately cost them dearly in cravings, addictions and bad health habits. (I reeducated) All the while I remained firm. At first water is not a delicious choice comparison but they now prefer water over any kinds of sugar laden chemical drink because they know the trade off they will experience if they choose poorly. I later inquired if water was available instead and it was (but was obscurely displayed). So now we get a free water and they are happy.

And sometimes they will make mistakes out of ignorance as well. I know of one gentle mother who saw her child choose poorly at a buffet. She privately brought it to her attention and required her to remove it from her plate and choose better. The child was not aware that the sugar free Jello meant that it had artificial sweetening and so obediently removed it and chose something else.(This wise mom had the child's heart).

This method you can use to reestablish habits over and over in almost any area of parenting. Don't give up. Changes are hard for us as well as your children and recognize that there will be set backs but continue to move forward again and soon new habits will be firmly established and you will not even need to think of what to choose, it will be automatic.

Some very good books to start with are:

Eating Alive by Jon Matsen the first three chapters (remember you do not have to read aloud the whole book- only that which applies the most at that point)

What You Don't Know May Be Killing You!. By Don Colbert

Has isolated chapters on water, and other chapters that apply to some good changes

Take Control of Your Health by Dr Joseph Mercola.

You do not need to apply to his website- just read his book for general knowledge.

The Maker's Diet by Jordon Rubin

A good recipe and information book to start with is

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

As you read these and some other books be aware that they came from some varying viewpoints. Don't be discouraged by some contradictions. Stick with the obvious changes that you need to make and you will be able to discern the minor differences later on.

You can visit Janet at her blog, Lifestyle of Learning!

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• Raising healthy eaters- Laying a strong foundation | Keeper of the Home
• Raising healthy eaters- Feeding picky toddlers | Keeper of the Home
• Raising healthy eaters- Making mealtimes work with toddlers | Keeper of the Home
• Raising healthy eaters- Involving children in choosing and cooking food | Keeper of the Home

If you have missed any of the posts in this series on Raising Healthy Eaters, here is the link to the post archives where you will find them all.

As well, I am still open to finding one more guest poster, on the topic of teaching and training older children in healthy eating. My experience ends with the toddler stage at the moment, so I know we would all love to hear from a mom who is seeing the fruits of her labor in school-aged children with healthy eating habits! If you're interested in writing a post that will be featured on my blog, please email me at keeperofthehome (at) canada.com (remove spaces).

Healthy snacks in our home:

Dried fruit- Dates, raisins, unsulphured apricots, apple rings, banana chips.

Homemade fruit leather- Here is a recent post I wrote on how I make mine.   

Homemade trail mix- I just throw together a mix of whatever nuts/seeds and dried fruit is around, and if we have any, I'll add a few carob chips for a treat
   

Yogurt- I use my plain, homemade yogurt, and we just add toppings to our hearts content: fresh or frozen fruit (especially berries or bananas), raw nuts like almonds or pecans, raw sunflower and pumpkin seeds, a drizzle of honey or a few drops of Stevia, a bit of homemade granola, etc.

Fresh fruit- I try to always keep a selection of fruit around for snacks- her favorites are sliced apples, mandarin oranges, bananas, grapes, pineapple chunks, sliced pears, and watermelon slices. If we have several things, we put together a little fruit salad
   

Smoothies- As I mentioned last week, these are an absolute staple in our home! Here are a few of the smoothie recipes I've posted- Carob Banana, Raspberry Pina Colada, and Orange Creamsicle, although the possibilities really are endless! The basic premise is to blend up some yogurt or raw milk or even water with a handful of nuts/seeds as the base, then add in frozen fruit (or fresh if you like, but we love a frozen texture), and your sweetener of choice (we use honey or Stevia), plus any extras like flax seeds, green foods (or even whole kale leaves!), etc. We've also made "egg nog" using raw milk/cream, raw eggs, and honey.

Popsicles- Pretty much any smoothie makes a good popsicle, simply by pouring it into one of those plastic popsicle molds (you can buy them at most dollar stores). A summertime favorite!

Crackers and cheese. Usually Ryvita or rice crackers, unless I have homemade ones, which I usually don't. If we have any sausage type meats (which is rare, because they're difficult to find and expensive if you buy them without preservatives), I like to slice them and add meat slices to our crackers and cheese
 

Homemade teething cookies- These are good for teething babies over one year, and our daughter still enjoys eating them at 3. I'll post the recipe separately.   

Toast fingers- Sounds fancier than it is. It's just plain old toast sliced into 3 or 4 long fingers, and this just totally appeals to my daughter (her Auntie showed her how to eat her toast this way). I usually serve toast with either organic peanut or almond butter (sometimes with raisin faces), or sliced cheese, or just butter.   

Veggie sticks- We like them with hummus, yogurt dip, guacamole, etc.
   

Little snack balls- I usually make these with either nuts/seeds or sprouted grains, and dried fruit to bind them. They are delicious, sweet, moist and perfect for the munchies. I grind it all up together in the food processor, and form it into little balls or logs that I keep in the freezer.
   

Rice/Quinoa/Millet- For some reason, Abbie just really enjoys a little bowl of leftover grains (I don't make them fresh, so this is only if we have leftovers from a previous meal), with a little bit of butter and Bragg's (a soy sauce alternative).
   

Mini "pizzas"- I take a piece of bread, or a small tortilla, or a biscuit split in half (just whatever we have, basically), spread a bit of tomato paste or homemade ketchup on it, add a few finely chopped veggies and/or meat (if we have cooked ground meat or sandwich meat- again, rare because we buy it nitrite free). I sprinkle it with a bit of cheese, and pop it in the toaster oven for a couple of minutes. I love these, too!
   

Olives- Stuck on each of her fingers. There is something about eating an olive off of your fingers that is just, well, irresistible.

Now it's your turn... please share with us your healthy, kid-pleasing snack ideas and recipes with us! What are the most requested snacks in your home? How do you fill up hungry little tummies in the late afternoon or when you're out on the run? What are your creative ideas for getting healthy foods into your kids?

Simply write your own post sharing your snack ideas, and then post your name, what your post is about, and your url. If you don't have a blog, please leave a comment sharing your ideas! Thanks for joining in!

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The only requirement is that your blog post includes either ideas and/or recipes for nutritious, homemade snacks that are child friendly (and I would prefer to avoid ideas using processed or packaged foods if at all possible). Once it's posted, come and add your link and join in the fun!

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
• Moukisac: Your 6 in 1 shopping bag system; compact, stylish, versatile and practical, of course! Made by Canadian mom.
• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
• ListPlanIt: Lists to put your world in order
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• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

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As promised, after some great discussions on other aspects of feeding young children (see this post and also this one), here are some ideas from our house on the actual preparation and presentation of meals.

We keep breakfasts very simple and informal around our house, although we love to sit down at the table and eat a nicer breakfast together whenever possible. Since my husband often has to leave early, though, he often grabs something on the go (some toast or a smoothie in a coffee mug), leaving only me and the kids to eat. This is the one time of day when I make foods more specifically to my daughter's taste, simply because it is the only time when I don't mind making something different for her and I (although we often will eat the same thing).

Here are some examples of what I feed her for breakfast:

• Oatmeal. Her favorite! I soak it the night before, and then I simply take 5 minutes to cook up a child-sized amount for her. When I'm thinking ahead, I make enough for 2-3 breakfasts, and store it in the fridge. Then I simply reheat it in a small pot or pan, and it's ready in a snap. See this post for some ideas of what I put on her oatmeal, a baked variation and some other grain substitutions that I make. Changing it up slightly keeps her interested in this simple, nutritious and frugal meal.
• Scrambled eggs. Usually with just a bit of salt or Spike, but sometimes with a little homemade ketchup.
• Toast. She loves it with cheese, just like Mommy and Daddy, but she also really enjoys some organic peanut or almond butter. To make this more fun, we like to add raisins or sunflower seeds to make a face in the nut butter.
• Homemade yogurt with nuts and seeds and/or different kinds of fruits. I give her some say in what she wants to add to it, as this makes her more eager to eat it. Common additions in our house are frozen blueberries or raspberries, or fresh sliced bananas, or peaches and nectarines in season. If I have homemade granola on hand I will give her some of that as well (I make a dehydrated sprouted buckwheat granola- I know, I know, I'm weird, but we like it!).
• Smoothies. What child doesn't love a good smoothie? (Now just because I said that, someone will comment and say "my child!") Our smoothies consist of yogurt (usually, but if I'm all out, I use nuts and seeds plus water for the base), frozen fruits (all kinds of berries, peaches, pineapple, and bananas as a cheap sweetener and filler), plus some honey or stevia to sweeten, water to thin it, and any supplements or superfoods (such as green powder or flax, etc.) that I want to add. This is a staple in our house! Some previous smoothie recipes I've posted are here and here.
• Pancakes. I soak the flour overnight and have a couple of simple pancake recipes I like using, and we top them with fresh or thawed fruit and berries, plus either maple syrup, honey, sweetened homemade yogurt (I sweeten it myself with honey or stevia), and occasionally a bit of whipped cream for a treat. I think that Abbie almost consistently eats more pancakes than either my husband or I!

My main concern when preparing breakfasts for her is that she gets a variety of foods over the course of the week. I am fine with her eating the same thing 2-3 days in a row, as long as what she eats over the whle week balances out.

My other concern is that she is starting the day with something substantial, and it usually includes either an animal protein source, or a soaked, whole grain component (which also has protein, just not as much). When kids start the day with a solid breakfast, especially protein, they don't get hungry as quickly, their blood sugar stays more stable and they are more able to concentrate and focus on school work or other tasks.

I've already posted about what I do for lunches, and you can read that post here. As I've stated before, for most meals I don't cater to my daughter, but I just serve her whatever my husband and I are eating. This goes for dinner as well. You can see my meal plans here. My daughter is eating these foods right alongside of us. We have done this with her as soon as she could handle table food, and have progressively served her more and more of what we are eating (whereas when she was younger, we would pick and choose the portions of the meal most appropriate or simple for her to eat).

I do, however, keep in mind her eating ability (for example, she finds chewing red meat difficult and cannot handle large chunks of raw veggies) and her preferences. While I make a large salad for myself, I will give her a few smaller pieces of lettuce, a couple of the salad veggies and dressing on the side to allow her to dip into it. When we eat tacos, I make hers into a taco salad that she can eat out of a bowl, rather than trying to hold a taco together. When we're eating something like a spicy curry with rice, I'll give her more rice than curry, and add some yogurt to make hers more mild. I always cut her veggies and meat smaller if I think they're a bit big for her to handle. We allow her to "drink" her soup from the bowl when it gets low. There are so many ways to make grown-up food work well for little ones!

Since I started thinking about this post, I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what makes these healthy foods work in our house, because overall, I don't think there's anything particularly fancy or cutesy or special about the foods I make or the way I present them.

Honestly, I think it just comes down to attitude and the tone that you set as you serve the food. Sure, she loves it when I let her make funny faces on her toast or put olives on her fingers or make a bunny shaped pancake. But I don't usually do that kind of stuff- I'm simple, practical and pragmatic.

What I lack in creativity and kitchen pizazz, I make up for in enthusiasm about the foods that I serve. I serve healthy meals with the expectation that they will be well received, and put foods in front of her with an attitude that says she is blessed to get to eat such wonderful food, instead of a half-hearted "Ok honey, now please try to eat your veggies".

I want good, whole, nourishing food to be a delight to my children, and so it's up to me to set the example of enjoying it as such. As I've mentioned before, we continually mention how thankful we are to God for these healthy foods that are so good for our bodies, and how delicious they are. And you know what? It's contagious! Almost daily our daughter now tells me how her food is so healthy, or yummy, or she thanks me for the wonderful food (an example set by he Daddy).

As I prepare to end this series on Raising Healthy Eaters, I thought it would be fun to get all of you involved in two different ways. The first is that I would love to post a guest post or two from a more experienced mom with older children than me! If you've been integrating good nutrition and healthy eating practices into your family and are seeing the fruits of it in your healthy, older children, please email me at keeperofthehome @ canada.com (remove spaces) and let me know that you are interested in writing a guest post!

The second is this- my last topic is healthy snack ideas and recipes, and I would love to hear some of your ideas! Would you think of your favorite snack recipes (or just simple things your kids like to snack on- they don't have to be full blown recipes at all), and post them next Tuesday? I will put up a Mr.Linky on Monday night so that everyone can join in and share their great ideas!

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
• Moukisac: Your 6 in 1 shopping bag system; compact, stylish, versatile and practical, of course! Made by Canadian mom.
• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
• ListPlanIt: Lists to put your world in order
• Vintage Remedies: Get healthy, naturally
• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

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Some days both of the chairs from my daughter's little table set join us in the kitchen, and sometimes she drags in one of the big ones from the dining room instead. Whatever the chair (or chairs) du jour, if I am in there cooking, baking or cleaning, you are bound to find her right up there beside me, begging to be given a job!

If you've missed out on the last two weeks, we've been discussing getting picky toddlers to eat, and had a really good discussion last week on some important topics such as forcing children to eat, dinnertime discipline issues, strong food aversions, and more. This week I want to pick up on a topic I've mentioned before and that was brought up in last week's discussion.

One of the absolute best ways that we can foster an understanding of nutrition and a desire to eat healthily in our children is to involve them in every step of the process!

There is something about being an integral part of buying, cooking (and even growing!) food that encourages children to eat it more willingly. It creates more of a sense of ownership- my daughter loves to tell my husband about the soup we made or the muffins we baked for him. I think that the more we invite our children into the process with us, rather than allowing them to remain as passive participants at mealtimes, the more we can foster a sincere interest in nutrition and a love for the wholesome foods that God created for them to eat.

When you go to the grocery store, bring them with you (as much as possible- I understand the desire for the odd trip to the store, all alone, by your very lonesome self!). Grocery shopping provides such an incredible venue for teaching opportunities and to give your kids choices in the food that they will be eating.

As we walk around the perimeter of the store (we're not much of an "aisle shopping" family, as most whole foods are located around the perimeter), we discuss what we are buying and why. Sometimes my daughter will point out a food that looks interesting to her. If it happens to be a packaged item, I'll read the ingredients and let her know why or why not we should buy it. If it is a fruit or vegetable she's not familiar with, I'll tell her what it is and why it's healthy for us.

Once, she discovered eggplant at our produce market. Neither my husband or I are big eggplant eaters, but she was just enthralled by this beautiful purple vegetable! Not wanting to discourage her, I asked her what she wanted to do with it, and she suggested that we buy one and try it at home. And so, we did! (I'll admit, it sat there for over a week before I finally found a recipe to use it in, and when the time came, we prepared the pasta/eggplant dish together and she was excited to try it- she didn't love it,  but that's ok, at least she tried it!).

Probably the most important way that I involve her is in the food preparation process. In the kitchen, I let her help me as much as possible. There are so many simple ways that children can help!

• ripping lettuce for a salad
• dumping measuring cups of flour in a bowl (we use baking for math lessons- addition, counting, and soon for fractions!)
• beating eggs with a fork
• shaking a jar of homemade salad dressing
• pouring batter into muffin tins
• adding veggies to a bowl after I cut them
• stirring (baking, soups, etc.)
• getting items for me from the fridge and putting them away again
• being my official "taste tester"
• and I'm sure you can think of many more!

As we cook, we so often talk about the foods that we're preparing, why they're healthy, how they taste, how God made them, where they come from (from cows, from farmers who grow them, from a tropical place in the world, from the sea, etc). She is learning so much about her world, developing more of an interest in the foods that we eat (because she helped to prepare them!) and is being trained to be a homemaker one day (just so you know, I intend to train my sons to help in the kitchen as well). We have beautiful bonding time, simply because I allow her to be with me, and I accept the slower pace of cooking with a child in exchange for these very worthwhile benefits.

I'll admit, I have days when I just want to cook by myself, to do things quickly,
to make bread without flour ending up all over the floor. I'm
impatient, I'm human and I'm sinful. I allow myself to be annoyed by sweeping the floor for the 5th time that day and the drips of egg white that didn't quite make it into the bowl and the cinnamon that was dumped on top of my spicy bean dish. Sometimes I'm tempted to choose
convenience and cleanliness over the privilege of teaching and training my
daughter in nutrition and food preparation skills.

I have days when I bump into ones of those little brown chairs repeatedly or have to move it from place to place in order to open my cupboards as I try to put dishes away. I'm tempted to kick it out of the kitchen, back into the family room where it "belongs".

But you know, the longer I spend time in the kitchen with my favorite little girl, cooking and baking and experimenting and making messes, the more I realize that where that chair really belongs is right there in the kitchen. Right beside me.

What are some of the ways that you involve your children in shopping, cooking or anything else? What tasks do you give them? Do you find this increases their willingness to eat a wide variety of foods?

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
• Moukisac: Your 6 in 1 shopping bag system; compact, stylish, versatile and practical, of course! Made by Canadian mom.
• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
• ListPlanIt: Lists to put your world in order
• Vintage Remedies: Get healthy, naturally
• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

More from Keeper of the Home

• Raising healthy eaters- Requiring children to eat foods they dislike: A discussion | Keeper of the Home
• Raising healthy eaters- Feeding picky toddlers | Keeper of the Home
• Raising healthy eaters- Making mealtimes work with toddlers | Keeper of the Home
• Raising Healthy Eaters- Retraining children’s eating habits | Keeper of the Home

I always enjoy comments that challenge my thinking and bring up great topics for discussion, and this post had several! I thought that this week, rather than writing another post, I would post some of the points made and questions raised by others, and get some discussion going about the issue!

(Side note- I want you to know that I really, truly value your opinions, and some of these comments I am posting are from women that I have become friendly with, so this is honestly a forum for discussion and learning for us all!)

Mrs.Taft (who is a very dear, thought-provoking commenter!), said this:

1. Toddlers and babies have VERY sensitive taste buds. They taste
things far more strongly and variedly than we do. What may seem mild or
even bland to you may be overwhelmingly pungent or spicy to them. I
remember not liking raw onions because it burned my mouth. Now I eat
them fine.

2. To that effect, and sometimes in a greater measure, they often
have real aversions. Physical, psychological, or both. It's not always
a matter of obedience, it's a matter of ability.

3. We must always be careful of how we present food struggles,
because eating disorders are very real, and there has been research
done over the last decade or so that has shown links to both over and
under eating and tracing it back to childhood and infant experiences of
food... (you can read the rest of what she said in the comments section of the post)

Tami left this comment:

We have 3 kids (4, 2 and 7 months). I have always served the older two
whatever the rest of the family is eating. And, while my 4 year old has
an adventurous palate, like his daddy, our 2 year old is fairly picky.
We have not figured out how to make him take a bite without forcing it
in his mouth. He will sometimes put something in his mouth and then
spit it out. And we do use the rule that you have to take a bite of
everything on your plate. My husband and I are getting very discouraged
with trying to get him to eat.

And here's what Kimi had to say:

I do think that it is very true that young children's taste buds are
very sensitive. I remember there were certain things that I could
hardly eat when I was young. Sour cream tasted extremely tart and
disgusting (I hated it-

though I love it now), tomatoes were very strong, bell peppers were
also extremely strong to me, though now I think they are sweet!
Spinach, cooked, I really couldn't swallow because it would make me gag
so much. All to say, I think that children's adverse reactions to food
are very real, and not necessarily something one can always overcome
with mere obedience and repetition.

But on the other hand, I think that what my mother did was good. She
was always having us try new things, and we always had to have at least
a few bites. She didn't feed us our least favorite thing everyday, but
would have it on the menu occasionally. It worked great for me. I
turned from a very picky eater to one who always likes to eat new
things! So keep up the good work of having your children try new
things, I bet it will pay off for you and your children.

On the other side, I had a friend who's father would make him eat
something he didn't like once a week for 6 weeks. It didn't work for
him but only made me HATE the food with a passion. An example of
forcing food gone bad. I think my mother's way was better. Introduce
foods, but not force it all down.

Like I said, I think there is a balance there.

And now, I open it up to you! What do you think?

Do you require your children to eat foods that they particularly don't like? How much of an undesired food do you require? What about children with strong texture aversions, or gag reflexes? Do you believe it is ever okay to physically force a child to eat something? In your opinion, at what point is discipline appropriate (if ever!)?

Alright. Discuss.

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What is a health-conscious mom to do?

Today, I want to talk about shaping young tastes. I'm sorry, but this isn't the post where I tell you how to make smiley faces out of their veggies and sneaking spinach into their brownies.

I will definitely get to the issue of how to creatively and nutritiously get food into our toddlers, and even ways to make it more fun and interesting for them, as I believe that it is important for them to enjoy their food, and that enjoyment helps them to develop lifelong patterns of choosing to eat foods that are good for them. So stay tuned, because the recipes and ideas are certainly coming (although be forewarned that although I am all for creative cooking, I do not endorse deception as a method of getting healthy foods into our children)!

However, today I want to discuss the ways that we, as the parents, shape the tastes of our precious youngsters, because I believe that it is one of the most important aspects of raising healthy eaters.

Who's the parent?

Now, I am stepping out on a limb here, knowing that I may offend and get a few people's backs up a bit. But I think that what I have to say here is really, really crucial. Here it is...

When it comes to feeding your children and dealing with pickiness, the bottom line is that you are the parent, and they are not. You are the authority, and their role is to learn to respond to you with complete obedience. End of story.

I have worked with a lot of preschoolers and their families, before I was married and had my own children, and what I saw was an awful lot of parents who were allowing their children to dictate to them what they would and would not eat. I knew children who would only eat macaroni and cheese and ketchup and rice crackers and cheerios, and would only drink pop and milk (not even water!), and that was it! Honestly, it was ridiculous, and it is a wonder that those children were even as healthy as they were (although their parents could not yet see the long term health, as well as intellectual and behavioral outcomes of that kind of a diet).

Although those kind of cases are extreme, I still see the same thing happening in many families, to a lesser degree. Children are allowed to be picky. They are not told, either in words or consequences, that pickiness is not acceptable. If we were to ask our grandparents about what they ate when they were children, they would likely tell us that they ate whatever was put in front of them, because they obeyed their parents (because they were trained to obey them) and because food was often scarce and they were grateful for whatever they had.

What is so different nowadays? For one thing, we have such an over-abundance of food, much of which is not even nourishing in the slightest, that we often do not even recognize how blessed we are to even have food on the table at all. All food that we have is a gift and a blessing. There is a song I love that we sing at church, and one line says "anything we harvest is a gift from Your hands".

Are we, as parents, modeling thankfulness for the blessing of an abundance of food for our children? As I prepare food with my daughter and son nearby, and as we eat our meals together, we try to talk about how good the food is, how God provided it for us, how He created these foods to make our bodies healthy, and how we should thank Him for it.

Additionally, we are not training our children to eat what is put before them. As Christian parents, most of us recognize that God has given us authority to teach and train our children to obedience, and this applies to attitude, behaviors, manners, words, looks, respect for property and for other people, etc. I would suggest that this training must also happen at the dinner table, when we set a plate of food before our children.

Now, I am not advocating that we force our children to eat when they are not hungry anymore (in fact, this is not even a healthy practice, as it teaches us to disregard our body's signals that we are full and we learn to overeat), or to eat great quantities of food that they strongly dislike.

However, in our home, everything must be at least tried, and we usually enforce that "trying" equals taking more than one teensy, tiny bite. It entails several decent sized bites, enough to really taste the full flavor of the food. If our daughter decides that she still does not like a food at this point (after 3-4 bites), we will allow her to leave it and eat the rest of her food.

Furthermore, that is not the end of that food. We will continue to offer it every time it is prepared as part of the meal. I do not avoid particular foods because of my child's preference (although I do avoid some foods based on my husband's preference, but that is an entirely different thing!). For example, my daughter currently has decided that she doesn't really care for tomatoes, onions or red peppers (which is unfortunate for her, as these are very common food in our house!).

So what do I do about it? First of all, I still use them freely in my cooking. And, I allow her to help and to watch me cook, so she is involved in the process and more interested in eating the final result because she has had a role to play in it (I will probably spend an entire post talking about including our children in our food choices and preparation).

Second, she is required to try some of these foods each and every time I make them. And increasingly, we are requiring her to eat more than just a few bites, and more recently, the entire amount that she has been served. Just as a side note, I try to keep her servings very reasonable in size, even slightly on the smaller side, so that we can enforce that she eat what she has been given, and then if she is still hungry, she can have more of her favorites.

Third, I am training her through my words (and my husband's, at dinnertime) to like these foods that she believes that she dislikes. I grew up "disliking" many foods, and was an incredibly picky eater by the time I was an adult. I decided to begin re-training my taste buds while I was in university, by slowly adding a few new foods (mostly vegetables and fruits) into my diet every couple of months, until I learned to like the taste of them. And you know what? It worked!!! The little girl (gosh, even the 19 year old!), that used to eat only carrots, corn, potatoes, tomato sauce and iceberg lettuce, now eats a very full array of vegetables (not to mention most fruits and other foods as well). The key word here is "train"!

Training and shaping our children's tastes

So how do we train their likes and dislikes? When Abbie is eating healthy foods, especially vegetables and fruits, but also slightly different foods, such as quinoa or millet, real yogurt with no sweetener, molasses, etc. I will sing the praises of those foods! For instance, "Abbie, did you know that God made peppers to keep your body healthy? They are so good for you, and they're delicious- they're one of Mommy's favorite vegetables!". Or "Wow, isn't this quinoa good? Wasn't it kind of God to create such yummy and healthy foods for us to eat? What do you think, Daddy?"

When she tells us that she doesn't like something, I will calmly say, "Well, God gave us _____ to keep us healthy and to help our bodies grow strong. We should thank Him for it, shouldn't we? I'm glad that you're trying _____ and that you are learning to like it." A common phrase from my daughter at dinner these days is "Mommy, I think I'm learning to like tomatoes (or peppers or lettuce or whatever it is we're working on at the time)". When she finishes eating her meal, and has eaten all of the foods that we specifically asked her to eat, we try to make a point of letting her know that we are proud of her for choosing to eat her food, and for having such a happy heart about it (because obeying is not complete with a sour attitude- obedience is completely, right away and with a happy heart!).

Lest you think that our training efforts are perfect, I will let you know that we have the occasional dinner where there is a minor meltdown, or where those 3 pieces of pepper that she was given are the last thing standing on her dinner plate, and they're not going down without a fight. This is ok. She's sinful, just like me. We just deal with it as with any other disobedience, require her to do as we have asked, and move on.

Some of you may be thinking, "It's great that you started training your children young, but mine are 7 (or 10 or 13) and I don't know how to change their tastes at this point". This is a very valid question.

To answer in a nutshell, I would say that you apologize to your children for not having trained them correctly in this area (a humbling but necessary step), and let them know that things will now be changing around your house. From this point on, they will be required to eat a little bit of everything that is served, and they will do so with a cheerful attitude, and that the entire family will be making some healthier choices, together!

Parents, you will need to strongly model this for your children, if part of their pickiness comes from watching you avoid many of the foods that you know that you should eat. It may take some time, as you cannot change these kind of things overnight. But if you are consistent, and persistent, I believe that you can gradually re-train your children's tastes the same way that I re-trained mine.

It's so worth it...

In the long run, to have children who will obediently eat what they are asked to eat, and for them to have healthy tastes that have been molded by you, the family "nutritionist" For those with young children, like myself, be diligent in these early years and you will reap the rewards! I can already see it starting to show in my daughter- she doesn't request candy or pop or chips (well, she does share her parent's affinity for ice cream, but it's still a pretty rare treat)- this girl wants dried fruit and nuts/seeds and yogurt and apples and smoothies and even asks if she can have some salad at dinner- Yippee!

More Kitchen Tips at Tammy's Recipes!

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• Raising healthy eaters- What to feed baby | Keeper of the Home

If you have missed out on any parts of this series, here are all of the posts so far:

Laying a strong foundation

What eating healthy is and isn't

Getting off to the best start (pregnancy and breastfeeding nutrition)

What's for lunch, Mom?

Introducing solids to babies

What to feed baby

Making your own baby food

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And the price? Allow me a quick comparison. Around here, a jar of organic baby food (the smaller size jars) goes for around $.80 a piece. I believe one of the stores has come out with a new line recently that might go as cheap as $.60, so let's go with that figure. I buy a bag of organic carrots for $2.50. Using half of that bag (or even less), so $1.25 worth, I can make two ice cube trays full of food- which equals 24 meals. 24 meals of commercial baby food equals about 12 jars (as each jar holds about two cubes worth of food). So, 12 jars x $.60= $7.20.

$7.20 compared to $1.25? And the peace of mind of knowing exactly what went into my precious baby's food? I'll take it, for a little bit of extra work!

When I make baby food, I usually try to make several things all at once. I will be steaming one veggie while I chop up another, then steaming the next while I blend up and pour the first into trays. It takes very little time, really. I can easily make a months worth of food in about an hour.

To make it more convenient, something that I often do is just take leftovers of a baby-friendly food (the remnants of a baked squash, for example), and quickly blend them up and pop it into trays while I am cleaning up dinner. Or when I am making chicken broth, I set aside a bowl of chicken that I am already working with, a little bit of the broth, and just blend it while my broth continues to simmer or cool or whatever stage I am at.

Here are some pictures of some pureed chicken I made this weekend:

A bowlful of cooked chicken, after I took the chicken out of the crock pot. If I was making veggies, I would chop the veggies into large chunks and lightly steam them until soft enough to blend easily. If I was making fruit, I would lightly cook the ones with pectin (apples, pears, etc.) and others (like peaches, papaya, etc.) just cut into blender sized chunks.

I took a cup or so of chicken and added it to the blender with a little bit of broth, and blended it on low until well pureed, adding a little more water as need. For veggies, Nourishing Traditions says to add a little bit of butter (especially for root vegetables, such as carrots or turnips), although I would only do this with organic butter and it is definitely not necessary. For fruit, just add water. Regardless of what you are making, add only as much water as you truly need to get the food well blended, as too much water will result in a consistency that is too liquid, difficult for feeding, and may not appeal to your baby.

Next, I pour the pureed food into an clean ice cube tray (this picture is actually of some sweet potato I made last week). Freeze it, covered, for a few hours until the cubes are set enough that you can pop them out.

Put the cubes in a Ziploc bag, or Tupperware container, etc. and mark what they are (it's so difficult to tell once they're frozen) and the date that they were frozen. Baby food can last up to 3 months once frozen (I've also read 2 months- you could go more conservative if you prefer). I just try not to make too much at once, so that I can use it up before I need to start worrying about it. Since my baby only eats about a tablespoon for a meal right now (about half a cube), I've been making very small amounts- no more than 1 tray full at a time. Just increase how much you make as your baby begins to eat more.

And that's it! Early in the day, take out what baby will be eating that day and put it in bowls in the fridge, to allow it to thaw by the time you need it.

Visit Tammy's for some more great kitchen tips!

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
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• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
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