Eating dinner together

How many of you eat a family dinner together? I am stressing about food and what my 2 will eat. I am already dealing with a scary food allergy to dairy, and less scary to egg and peas. I feel like my 2 are eating less and less of the good stuff and just want bread and pasta. Every once in a blue moon my son will eat his broccoli or carrots, but Phoebe NEVER does.

So I guess my question to you is: If you had picky eaters did moving to an early one family meal improve eating habits? If yours go to bed when do you have dinner? 6:00? My DH and I are used to eating at 8:00!! This would be a big adjustment. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

thanks-
Dana

 

Ours go to bed at 8 and we usually have dinner around 6:30. We do try to eat as a family, but they are still very picky. Like you I feel like all they want is bread and pastas. I just keep putting the veggies on their plate in the hope that one day it will click and they will eat them.

 

We try to eat dinner as a family most nights. We usually eat around 6:30 and mine go to bed arounf 8:00. A couple of months ago I started giving the kids what we were eating for dinner. Honsestly, I don't think the fact that we all eat together has improved their eating habits. Some nights they are still picky! I do though try to have at least 1 food item that I know for sure they will eat. Sometimes they eat the other stuff and sometimes they don't. I also keep offering the stuff they don't eat in hopes that one day they will! I also try to get creative and stuff the veggies in things I know they will eat for instance soup. I also know they love corn- while not the best veggie out there... at least I know they will eat it.

Getting them to eat healthy is a struggle for us too, but I think it is also perfectly normal. Keep offering them the food and they will come around.

 

We eat as a family but we eat early, around 5-5:30. The boys eat what we eat for the most part. Well up to this point Spencer has never met a food he didn't like and Carter doesn't care too much for veggies, but I still offer them.

 

We also eat as a family every night. We eat around 5:30, pretty much right after DH gets home. Emilie and Trevor go to bed at 7:30 and my oldest at 8:30. I try and make something everyone will eat, I don't cook 2 meals! If we are having something that Emilie and Trevor can't eat then Iwill make them something else, but that is the only way I make them something different.

 

We eat together every night around 5:45 and the kids go to bed at 7pm. My kids were a bit picky before we started eating together, but are a little better now. They still have things that they refuse to eat and I often alter their meal a tad using the same ingredients (if DH and I are eating tacos, then I make quesadillas). One thing that they have come to really love is stir-fried veggies with teriyaki. They used to tolerate veggies but now gobble them up! So we do a lot of stir fry at our house.

 

Thanks ladies. Not sure I feel like changing our schedule if it hasn't made a huge difference. sigh. I will keep offering the good stuff. Guess that is all we can do right?

 

We try to eat as a family. It's usually about 6:30 by the time I get home from work and we get something fixed. My kids go to bed at 8:00. Vegetables is one thing my kids will usually eat, I have to fight them to eat meat or pasta is there is any kind of sauce.

 

We do eat dinner as a family, but they are still picky. Mine are in a groove of wanting nothing but bread, pasta, cheese, and fruit. We do try to show them "mmmm isn't this yummy?" but it doesn't help.

 

We try to eat as a family as often as possible. Dd actually loves it and helps make it happen! Dh works late 3-4 nights a week so it only can happen 3 nights a week. I made the HUGE mistake of beinga short order cook for dd and she still has eating issues to this day. I will NOT make the same mistake with the boys. I cook dinner and EVERYONE eats it or goes hungry. I usually try to make one side dish that I know the kids will eat. And then I make them try everything. Zach is finally eating meat now at 2 and they both love melons this spring. Its not always easy, but the 2nd (and 3rd) time around I feel more confident that they will be OK going to bed hungry and usually make up for it at the next meal. They still get a snack/milk before bed too though regardless of how much they eat for dinner.

HTH B)

 

We try to eat breakfast as a family every day, since we can only manage dinner a few nights a week. We all get home (from work and daycare) around 5:45 and the girls go ballistic if they aren't fed within 15 minutes. Then they go to bed at 6:30/7. So we can only eat together if we're having leftovers, takeout, or something from the crockpot -- there is no time to cook until after they're asleep.

I am making a big effort to make it happen more often, though, because it does seem to make a difference. I think they eat more food and more variety when we eat with them -- at least sometimes. Just as important, they will sit longer at the table and be somewhat better behaved (i.e. less whining, throwing food, etc.) if our attention is not focused exclusively on them. I try to think of it as an effort at civilizing them, as much as an effort at getting them to eat more/better.

Tracy, if they go to bed hungry, do they wake during the night, or are they just really hungry at breakfast? This is my big fear (waking during the night).

 

I couldn't get my girls to eat baby food or table food until we all started sitting down together and eating. We eat right around 6-6:15pm (as soon as DH gets home, I work from home). My girls eat anything, some of the weirder things (for kids) include sauerkraut, broccoli, olives. Some days they will turn their noses up at things, but it is always short-lived...I think it is more of a mood thing than a picky thing.

One of mine is a carbs girl, but she will eat her veggies too. The other would take veggies over pretty much everything else if I let her. I have to limit her veggies to get her to eat other stuff.

 

We always eat together, and I find that Elliot and Clarissa are sometimes more interested in trying something new if DH and I are eating it, but do NOT put it on their trays . . . I guess they think it's something special for grownups and therefore they want to eat it. They are definitely still picky, and I do give them things I know they'll eat (toast with cheese is always the big backup at our house) but they are gradually eating more things.

Having grown up in a house where we always ate as a family, it never occured to me to feed the kids separately . . . dinner is usually the only non-hectic time we all spend together, so we make a point of doing it every night (eat around 6:00, kids to bed around 8:00).

-Rachel

 

We, or at least my au pair and kids and I, eat together every night. We usually eat 6:30-7:00. My kids go to bed at 9:30 - 10:15.

My oldest (9) eats what we eat. My youngest (2y9m) often get something different. PB on bread or cereal with milk are common. Lately I've done 1/2 PB sandwich along with the veggies and meat that we have. The are required to take one 'thank you bite'. Sometimes, they even like what they try!

 

We eat together and they get waht we eat - we've never made a separate meal for them.
Some days are good, some are bad. But I've found the advice from the pedi is true: they have to see a food 15-20 times before they will incorporate it into their diet. Just keep serving what you like, but pick days when you serve their favorite foods. There are healthy and delicious recipes for pasta and chicken nuggets. We make sure that there is always something they like served at meals.