Moms Talk: How Do You Get Your Kids to Eat What You’re Eating?

We just finished what was perhaps the most unsettling Sunday dinner ever in our household. Both of our children whined and cried and fussed through the entire meal, all because I wasn’t serving them hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.

Instead of the usual kiddie fare, I was trying to encourage the kids to eat some roasted chicken, homemade croutons and asparagus. Ok, I had no real reason to believe they’d actually even try the asparagus, even though I know there are plenty of children out there who probably love to eat it and do so without complaint or cajoling from their mom. But the chicken and what essentially is toasty fried bread with salt and pepper seemed to me like a reasonably tasty meal. But even the little one rebelled, hollering at me and slapping his high chair tray in dissatisfaction for nearly a half hour.

I always aim to make a dinner that all four of us can eat at least some portion of, partly for my own time and sanity as the —who wants to make two dinners when one is enough of a chore as it is? But it's also because I want to encourage my daughter, who is 3 ½, and my son, who turned 1 year old in May, to eat a balanced and relatively healthful meal.

Yet tonight the whining and fit-throwing got to both me and my husband and we caved. I broke down and broke all the parenting rules and cooked up hot dogs and macaroni and cheese as requested for purely selfish reasons: I didn’t want them to go to bed hungry and disturb the rest of our night by waking up, and I also didn’t want to hear anymore caterwauling over their awful fates for being served something other than their favorite foods.

I’m hoping that this push and pull is something that will fade away as the kids age. My mantra with my daughter these somewhat challenging days is “She’s only 3, she’s only 3, she’s only 3.” But even if Lucy outgrows this phase, her brother Isaac is coming up behind her, and we’ll go through this rough patch all over again.