How do you deal with a toddler who wants to eat only sweet food (fruit or yogurt), and refuses any meal that is savory (pasta, hummus, potatoes)?
Two-year-olds are fickle in most ways; their appetites could change many times in a month. If your son/daughter decides that he only wants to eat sweet foods, feed him nutritious sweets. Apple sauce (homemade apple[1] sauce is easy and tastes so good) Yogurt is not unhealthy, but sugary Yoplait Key Lime Pie “yogurt”—basically pudding at this point—is bad for developing teeth and bodies in general. Try to encourage him to eat things like small bits of chicken or maybe colorful cooked carrots with some cinnamon and honey. My parents told me a story that when I was two, maybe just before I was two, I turned orange. They thought I’d had super-jaundice or something, but the doctor said that my diet of sweet potatoes and steamed carrots exclusively had turned me orange—no harm done. Kids love food that is very colorful and bright. Orange carrots with cinnamon is like a canvas to a baby. Pasta? How about tri-color rigatoni with alfredo?When he gets older, he’ll be able to understand that sometimes, you eat or you simply don’t, but right now, he is to young for the mind games. Cater to his needs for now, but some organic deception never hurt anyone, least of all children.Footnotes[1] Quick Homemade Applesauce - No Sugar Added Recipe - Food.com
What is it like being a parent to an infant or toddler?
It's like trying to rein in a wild mustang or catch a tornado. Be ready to be bruised all over. Their favorite word in “No”. They love to refuse anything healthy you give them.You have to chase them around the house a thousand times a day! But wait. After chasing them down, comes the better part- Wrestling.. it rivals WWF. For changing nappies, clothes, going out, brushing, combing, anything and everything.They make a huge tamtrum to want to go out. When you do agree to take them, repeat the previous step to actually get out of the house.Nothing gets done in time. Forget keeping schedule or adhering to plans.The fun part is making them eat! It's my favorite pastime of the day. Making a dozen different dishes and getting a resounding “no!” And again chasing them to strap to the high chair. Repeat that 3 times a day.They put up their best fight for nap times. It's the great war. You need to tell a hundred bed time stories which would make you sleep only to feel tiny fingers poking inside your nose asking for another story, this time with a dance- pretty please!The rewarding moments are their tiny hugs and kisses in their busy days. When they are too tired from their adventures and lay on your lap to be cuddled. These are prescious and make up for the rest of the day!
How do you get a toddler to do what you want him or her to do without bribing, threats, or physical coercion?
You make him want to do it. You make it fun for her.How do you make a toddler want to do something or think it’s fun?You lead by example.You brush your teeth … enthusiastically. You sing songs. You make faces while doing it.You eat your broccoli. And you enjoy it.You say please and thank you, always.You put your shoes on to go outside (or alternatively, take them off when coming in).You clear your dinner place.You clean up the room, too. Maybe you sing, dance, or hop on one foot while doing it.She doesn’t want to go out the door? You skip in and out backwards. you call excitedly, you go.And, also, you try to only very rarely give directions that you don’t expect to be followed (easily). Give directions that are easy to comply with. If you figure out how to give directions that your toddler wants to do anyway, you’re giving them some easy yes-es for you. This makes them feel good, and you can positively reinforce compliance, AND also does set some habit of listening to you. Don’t do this all the time though, because it’s also great to let toddlers make independent decisions, but it is a good way to bulk up your easy compliance orders.Then, be firm. It’s pretty rare that my toddler ignores a firm direction from me, but I’m also pretty good (by my fourth kid) at setting her up for success to tell me yes. I don’t give directions when it’s clearly impossible for her to follow them (too tired, too hungry, sick, standing in front of a room full of cotton candy only and saying no eating, etc). I try not to order her around too much, especially to things she won’t want to do. And then there’s the last bit:Consequences. Toddlers can do simple consequences. This isn’t a bribe, threat, or physical coercion - it’s a natural series of events.She refuses to put her shoes on? We can no longer go out the door to go to the park.He refuses to eat any of his dinner? He cannot have dessert because we don’t eat dessert without eating dinner first.Set your toddler up for success to say yes to you, build the habits, don’t time your requests badly, and then follow natural consequences.
My kids won't pick up after themselves.?
My children are messy, messy, messy. Their ages range from 3 to 10 years. They are constantly making messes. I can't keep up with them and my house is a disaster. They leave toys, shoes, clothes, and books everywhere. My husband is just as bad. I am tired of living in a pig sty. I'm tired period. I have 4 kids and a husband and I make 6. It is so hard cleaning up after 6 people (not to mention the 6 animals we have but they are less trouble). I just want people to pick up after themselves. Is that too much I ask? I mean, you name it, it's lying on my floor! Even dirty dishes lay on my floor! What would you do?
Did you stop letting your kid be a picky eater?
There is no way to make them eat something that they do not want to eat. You fight, they win. There are some fun "tricks" that I have used to get my kids to eat more (and better) foods. I bought a "crinkle cutter" and cut up vegetables with it. I would give them a choice of dipping sauce (usually salad dressing) to dip their food into. My youngest went through a period in which he would only eat pineapple if it was dipped in ketchup. I would also cut the fruit with the cutter and make yogurt based dipped. I would have them "help" me cook as much as possible. They were more willing to eat something that they helped make. We grew some of our own vegetables. The kids helped plant and care for these vegetables and were proud to eat them. The thing that has helped the most is the new set of pots and pans that we bought. These were Rachael Ray pans and my kids LOVE her to death. Now all the food we cook is Rachael Ray food and they will eat it. Cookbooks work well too! Kids will also need to see something "new" on their plate at least 14 times before they will even think about trying it. It also helps if they see you eat it. And food ALWAYS looks more appealing when it is on your plate.
I'm looking for suggestions for quick and easy tasty 3 course meals.?
Since I assume you will be feeding those two children before you send them off to bed I will also assume you will be in the kitchen to fix their meal. While cooking children's dinner 1. Wash 2 baking potatoes and place in oven at 400 F degrees and bake for 1 hour. 2. Place 2 eye round or other steak into a marinade made with red wine/red wine vinegar/olive oil/ spices. You can use a ready made marinade or check your favorite cookbook for same. 3. Make a tossed salad and refrigerate 4. Make blue cheese dressing by combining 1 C mayonnaise with 3 oz good blue cheese, a dash of tobassco sauce and 2 Tbls cream or half and half. You may add additional cream if needed to make it thinner. Add a grind of fresh black pepper when you put it on the salad. Earlier in the day while the children are napping you could prepare a simple trifle for dessert. The ingredients you will need are as follows left over cake, any flavor, cubed pudding, flavor of your choice to go with cake whipped topping raspberry or other flavor jam (lemon curd would also work well) Warm the jam and add either alittle water or liquor of your choice, you want it to be thin enough to drizzle. Place 1/3 of the cubed cake into a pretty serving dish, drizzle with thinned jam, top with 1/3 of the pudding and 1/3 of the whipped topping. Repeat layers ending with whipped topping. Sprinkle with grated chocolate, nuts or coconuts as you desire. Chill. this can be made in individual dishes if you prefer.
What do you do when your kid rejects what they ordered at a restaurant?
I don't have kids, but I have babysat for cousins and other family, until I refused to do it for free, anymore. When I took the kids with me if i wanted to go out and eat, and didn't feel like cooking, and they refused to eat what they ordered, and they were over the age of 5? I'd just sit there and eat, and ignore them. They wanted attention, usually, and when i ignored them, they usually started eating what they ordered within a few minutes. After a little squirming and complaining, of course. Although i did tell one of my nieces once that if she didn't eat her burger, I'd send the toilet monster to eat her. My sister never “let" me babysit ever again. But that's ok. I've disowned my sisters, and being used as a free babysitter has no perks at all, except scaring little kids. Once you take that away, what's the point? If they were under 5? I'd sit patiently and just stare them down, or do something idiotic to make them laugh, and once they were more cheerful, they ate what they got. It's probably a good thing I decided not to have kids. There isnt enough mental health help in the world to fix their poor little minds after spending a day with the babysitter from hell. Or…technically, father from hell.Although sometimes, I did have to watch my little brother, other than that, i never had to watch an actual infant/baby. Besides, they aren't very good at ordering off a menu anyway. They seem to have difficulty in forming actual words. And all that slobber isn't exactly conducive to a healthy appetite.Now, if I was at home with them, I usually let them pick what they wanted, and if they didn't want it, they didn't get any candy. So they learned to eat what they picked fairly easy, because if they did, I'd let them eat all the candy they wanted (i never had/have less than 30 pounds of chocolate and candy at any one time, so they got a lot of candy. And I mean a lot. Truffles, M&Ms, belgian chocolate, skittles, fudge, and sometimes, if they were good, coffee. )