Small victories

"Yet, to allow our children to do all the things they want to do, or to give them all the things they want, to make them "happy," is not always in their best interest."

This is from a book called Everyday Blessings:  The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting by Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn.  This seems like a no-brainer, but I believe many parents are afraid to take a stand on giving children food that is the best for their health.

Our culture feeds its children differently from adults. This would not be a problem if what we gave our kids was real food; however, often what we serve our kids is not healthy. Think McDonald's Happy Meals, Gogurt, cheetos, white bread, kool-aid (or fake lemonade, as if that's better), fruit snacks, ETC. My daughter was served this "hot chocolate" at a restaurant that was really a bunch of chemicals in a way-too-big cup:
  SWISS MISS HOT COCOA INGREDIENTS: SUGAR, CORN SYRUP, MODIFIED WHEY, COCOA (PROCESSED WITH ALKALI), HYDROGENATED COCONUT OIL, NONFAT MILK, CALCIUM CARBONATE, LESS THAN 2% OF: SALT, DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, CARRAGEENAN.
CONTAINS: MILK.


We let her drink it in this case, but in the future I will ask the restaurant what kind of hot chocolate they serve.   Unfortunately she had a stomach ache the rest of the day....

I admit this is not easy.  It's incredibly frustrating to cook from scratch night after night only to have one of the kids basically eat rice, apples and bread.  So I'm celebrating the small victories that I've noticed in this area:  after switching to real maple syrup more than 5 years ago, my kids don't even like the artificial stuff.  My 3-year-old  was lapping up plain yogurt the other night that I'd set on the table for curry, no honey required.  My 8-year-old has  been asking to try bites of different pizza toppings,  like green pepper, mushroom, etc, foods she's resisted in the past. All 3 are slowly learning to enjoy soup.  This morning they were admiring the beauty of the whole pineapple and were anticipating how good it would taste as I was cutting it for their breakfast.

I am not writing this to brag but to encourage you as you buy and prepare nourishing food for your family.  What small victories have you noticed?  I'd welcome your comments.