I have some picky eaters in my house. I am NOT interested in becoming a short order cook and preparing five different meals to please five different people. At lunch and dinner I stand firm. All must try every dish set before them. If they don't want to finish their portion and are still hungry, they are free to make themselves a PB & J sandwich.
I find I go totally soft at breakfast time. I have three school-age children and I need the mornings to go smoothly so that we can quickly get to our various activities. I cannot think of a single breakfast item that everyone likes. Rather than face a battle I just concede to tastes. If I plan to have cereal, I will get out two cereal bowls with spoons and slice one bagel for the toaster. If I'm serving eggs, I allow my oldest to pop in a toaster pastry instead. Even granola bars must come in two different flavors to please everyone.
I think I have nice kids but apparently at breakfast time you wouldn't know it. Any advice? Encouragement? Comiseration?
Right now I'm not a short order cook and I don't plan to become one, but your post got me thinking.
ReplyDeleteI guess you can't turn your kids loose to make their own breakfasts because of the time factor? My kids are too little and I rarely give them choices of what meal anyway. If they don't want to eat what we're eating, they can be excused from the table. So far this hasn't backfired (a kid so hungry a few hours later we all can't stand it), but I dunno. . . I'm not certain this is going to work forever. Somewhat lame advice (and I'm so sleepy right now), so sorry!