A Serenity Prayer for Your Family's Eating Habits

There are few things less stressful than feeding your child. 

I know that sounds dramatic considering the wide variety of trials and tribulations that go along with being a parent, but when you consider that meal time happens three times a day, plus snacks, most of your time is consumed by worrying what your kids are eating.

I always thought I would be the mom that would make sure her kids ate healthfully.  I am extremely health conscious and while I don’t deprive myself, I do my best to make good choices.  Therefore, I thought it would be a given that my kids would follow in my dietary footsteps.

Initially having control of their eating was relatively easy because I nursed them.  But it didn’t take long for the stress to begin.  I was consumed with worry about what I ate to ensure they were getting proper nutrients and kept dubious notes on when they nursed and for how long to make sure they were getting enough.  Then they each developed their own eating idiosyncrasies.  With Maddie, I couldn’t eat tomato sauce because it would cause her to projectile vomit.  Colin refused a bottle and would fuss if I fed him anywhere other than the usual spot on our couch.

Now that they are 4 and 2 years old, they have little minds and tastes of their own. I have one picky eater and one good eater.  Maddie can determine just by looking at something whether or not she will eat it.  Even when I try to force her to eat something I make, she gags on it and spits it out or throws up.

I bought all the books like Jessica Seinfeld's "Deceptively Delicious" that have recipes where you hide puree veggies and fruit in food.  Turns out as “deceptive” as I try to be, Maddie can sense a healthy food from a mile away and refuse it.  If it is chicken strips, French fries or pizza however, she’s all over it.  She’s also been known to pour the salt from the bottom of a bag of pretzels into her mouth.  Then there is Colin who will eat anything and everything and seems to have inherited my love of healthy food.

In a perfect world and if I had a million dollars, our family would eat the best organic produce. Our meat and dairy products would be hormone free and would come from local farms.  I would be able to pronounce every ingredient on my food labels. We would never eat fast food and if we did eat at a restaurant, I could order them "Grilled Chicken Fingers" and a side of apples, carrots or broccoli off the kid’s menu and they wouldn't complain. 

I also wouldn’t go against the pediatrician who says not to become a “short order cook” when I make variations of what the rest of us are eating to appease Maddie. But I am also realistic and know full well that I am doing better than most.

I have created a "Prayer of Serenity" specifically for feeding my family:

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change about my family's eating habits;

courage to change the recipes to healthy ones when I can;

and hope they won't know the difference.

 Living one meal at a time;

Enjoying one bite at a time;

Accepting chocolate chips as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as my Mom did, this sinful world of processed food and preservatives

as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that Flintstone vitamins will make all things right

if I surrender to Happy Meals;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life

and supremely happy when my kids eat green vegetables

Protein and Whole Grains.

Amen.

There really is only so much you can do when it comes to feeding your children, as much those smiling ladies on the covers of those books tell you. 

I say, “Everything in moderation.”  I still think kids deserve to eat McDonald's once in awhile, Dum-Dum suckers are sometimes the only way to get through certain situations. And chocolate chip cookies, quite frankly, are good for the soul.