Green and crunchy am I?
The other day when I was at the grocery store, it dawned on me as I looked over the contents of my shopping cart. I’m not as green and crunchy as I used to be.
There was once a day when I would walk proudly around my local grocery store with a cart bursting at the seams with the healthiest foods and products. I’m sure those around me had shopping cart envy as my weekly shop would behold a plethora of organic goods. Yes, people would gasp at the contents of it — I even had little old ladies stop me and tell me what a wonderful mother I was to feed her children such healthy items. And, I have to admit that I would smugly walk by those mothers pushing shopping carts laden with not so healthy items and thank the stars that my kids would eat well.
How naive was I to think that wouldn’t bite me in the arse one day!
Then I had my youngest son.
Look up “fussy eater” in any parenting book and next to the definition, you will find his name! He seems to only want the familiarity of those foods that he knows and likes and just refuses to try anything new. Now, according to Dr. Sears’ website, being a picky eater is part of what it means to be a toddler and as a parent, you should aim for a nutritionally-balanced week, not a balanced day. One of his suggestions to get your child to eat their vegetables is to try growing them yourself. Me? Plant a garden? Hmmmm, that might just work. The National Garden Association reported this year that consumer spending on vegetable gardens is up 25 percent from two years ago which means it is growing in popularity. With the rising costs of organic vegetables in our stores, it is definitely a way to get cheap, healthy food.
Now it is I that wanders the grocery store aisles with shopping cart envy, staring longingly at those carts laden with healthy produce and foods. I am the one that gets the mixed, pitiful stares in the check out aisle as fellow shoppers glance at the new contents of my shopping cart . . . organic fruits and vegetables, organic 5 spouted bread, wholewheat pasta, chocolate pudding, ketchup and chicken nuggets? Huh?
And, I keep buying these items fearful that the child will starve.
So, can I still I be all green and crunchy when all my toddler wants to eat are chicken nuggets dipped in (organic) tomato sauce?
At least you can do it via juices, right? That’s what I tell myself, because like you, I also have a very picky eater.
Go on, be cruel. Starve him! What my mum always said (and me too now) is if they’re hungry they’ll eat what’s there.
For as long as you’ve been green, crunchy and all that, I think the organic gods will forgive you..lol
Love Ya
Kirst
I was wondering why you’re crunchiemummy. Now I know. lol.
Don’t beat yourself up. I feel great when I can get Tessa to eat *anything.* She’s in that stage where she doesn’t want to eat, and she’s already skinny, so I’m worried. And I keep finding half sucked vitamins through-out the house. sigh.
I’m sure he’s healthy enough to make any doctor smile. You can worry about crunchy and organic a little later.
I haven’t been green a day in my life! I’ve looked in the organic section at the grocery store out of curiosity, saw that a box of waffles cost $34.57, and went with the Eggos.
My kids don’t seem to mind.;)
My second daughter was a fussy eater, would insist I put tinned spaghetti on every meal and would only eat bread if it had Bovril spread on it, I would despair, but my mum, having had 7 kids, assured me it would do her no harm. She’s now 16 and eats things that she would flatly refuse when she was younger. She’s also got a terrific figure and has no food issues at all (hardly) !!!!
Your kids will be fine……!!! Just choose your battles like I was told to.
We have had tonnes of food issues and the main thing is – don’t sweat it. The more stress you bring to the table with eating issues the worse it is for ALL concerned. But try and only feed the same foods 3 times a week so they don’t overdose on them and lose interest in them….
We did about 7 mths of food therapy so I can happily waffle on this subject for hours….
Lots of kids go through picky stages…I think the key is to not stop offering them new foods. Eventually, they might just take them! I go through some ‘ungreen’ guilt in the grocery store, too. I’m lucky to not have picky kids, but its the sticker shock that gets me! I just can’t pay $5 for a jar of organic apple sauce when the store brand is $2.19. I buy organic as much as I can, and I think that’s what’s important. Small steps…eventually I hope that organic will become mainstream enough when I can buy more of it!