August 27, 2019

4 Ways To End Dinner Time Battles

You’ve been there, the dreaded dinner time battle! Growing up, I remember eating delicious meals as a kid, but I also remember those nights I wanted to spit my food in the toilet because cauliflower just wasn’t my jam. Now, as a mom, I know how quickly dinner time can become a battle ground with hungry, cranky little ones that have a mind of their own. After too many days of the same battle, I went on a mission to solve this issue for our little family. I came up with a few ways to combat and end dinner time battles once and for all!

Use Alternatives

My kids both love the familiar. They get in a routine and they enjoy eating/doing the same things. My husband and I are both this way, so its no surprise our kids are as well. In order to start adding in healthier options, we try to be consistent. We do one veggie a night and they can choose between two types. I also love making foods like Veggiecraft Farms pasta that is made of cauliflower or Right Rice made from veggies. There are tons of food on the market that are made with veggies and taste exactly the same!

Make It a Game

Another great way to end dinner time battles is to make it a game! My kids love games and activities involving food so they are always a big hit. This includes counting games, color games, and even learning activities. We also make it a game to see who finishes first – they get an extra “prize” or if they eat everything on their plate they can get an “extra” prize (aka 1 extra m&M).

Change Your Scenery

My kids LOVE being outside, so whenever things just aren’t going my way, I grab our dinner and head outside. There is just something about getting some fresh air that just helps my kids be in a better mood. Maybe your kids like a car ride, or the park… change the scenery and bring your dinner along for the ride! You can also the change scenery musically and have a dinner time dance party. Music + food is always a good idea!

Get Creative

And, by creative I mean present your dinner in different ways. For example, my kids love it when I make them a special “mix” of dinner options in these fun divider containers. (Which by the way are amazing for lunch boxes and the cheese twists fit in perfectly!) They also ALWAYS love a great “dip” option. I have no idea why but “dipping” is just so fun for my kids and really helps them eat great.

So, if you are having dinner time battles, I hope that these four tips help you! Overall, just keep trying and experimenting with different things. I finding giving “options” and a little after dinner incentive does the trick most of the time!

More about: Mom Talk Tuesday

When you become a mom, no one really talks about the community of support you will have. While I firmly believe that you are not a perfect parent, but the perfect parent for your child – I also believe in seeking help from other moms along the way. There are times in parenting when you need opinions, you need ideas, you need to learn and I am so excited to announce that the last Tuesday of each month, I will be participating in “Mom Talk Tuesday”. Each of the hosts and guest hosts will share about a topic related to motherhood or parenting in hopes to help you along the way.

I cannot tell you how excited I am about this, because every child is different. I remember walking through potty training with Brooke and reading article after article of different methods. Seeing that different things worked for different moms, not only gave me hope that we wouldn’t just give up all together, but also gave me IDEAS to try for ourself.

So, here we go! Below are the hosts for this month! Go check them out and give them a follow.

Our topic this month is: eating habits/diets/kids favorite foods