Color, color, color

It's not a secret that I love color. You can see it in all the things that I make - and I know that kids love color too.

I keep this in the back of my head while I'm making lunches for my kids. Don't get me wrong... not all of our lunches are colorful and not all of our lunches are well rounded. We have our days where I throw a jelly sandwich on a plate and call it good... or a bowl of macaroni and cheese. But when I have a little more time and I'm looking to get more nutrients in them... I try to incorporate as many colors as I can.

A colorful and fun looking lunch is much more enticing than that plate of ordinary looking spaghetti. It's not that they don't like spaghetti - but they had it already once this week and it's just not looking very pretty on that Spiderman plate. It's all in presentation. This is why Muffin Tins and Bento Boxes work so great for kids. It's a fun presentation... and the many components push us to use more foods - which normally means more color.

I used these theories when making the kid's lunch today. I didn't want to make a bento lunch (I find it a little hard because you have to calculate the spacing and how to get everything into that little box - it's truly an art) and I want to keep Muffin Tins special - so only on Mondays and special occasions.

So I pulled out some cheap black plastic plates I had (not sure where they came from) and decided that I'd go for a colorful lunch on an ordinary plate. The black was perfect to set off the colors (they have a ton of plastic character plates... but food tends to blend in which is not a good thing when you are trying to make it look enticing). I then pulled out the foods I wanted them to eat. While considering color, I also considered the coverage on the plate. I wanted to be sure to fill the plate with portions of food that they would eat. I have found that a large plate with many holes on it doesn't get gobbled up like one on a small plate where there aren't any gaps. Small colorful bowls and such work great for helping cover these types of areas as the solid bowl gives a fuller look than if the food were just loose on the plate. I also try to include a food or two that feels like a "treat" (like the veggie fries in the picture - they never get those).

The two lunch plates pictured are the what I served them for lunch. And I'm proud to say that they ate every last crumb. These with a glass of milk makes me feel like a successful mom (well, for today) for getting a decent meal down them.

This all comes up from a conversation I had last night with a friend who was talking about the Deceptively Delicious book. I haven't used it, mainly because I don't feel like I need to as my kids do eat a wide variety of healthy food, but I think it's a fantastic idea for those finicky kids (and husbands). The conversation led me to think about how I've been lucky enough that my kids are willing to try new things and to eat foods that most kids won't even look at.

Here's what I came up with:

• When they were young, we took them out to restaurants often (we did this so that they would know how to act in a restaurant from an early age and because we were so tired from being up for so long with them - cooking was the last thing we wanted to do). Eating at a restaurant means nicely presented food - and we could control how healthy it was (substitute fries for veggies. Ya, I know, we are no fun - but we are giving them the building blocks for leading a healthy life even if we don't :)
• When I'm introducing a new food, I don't make them try it the first time and I don't give up on it... I keep putting it in front of them. It may take a while, but they eventually get curious. Sometimes we ask them to lick it if it has a sauce on it :) This often works as we aren't asking them to commit to a bite.
• I give them choices when possible. I'll ask them in the morning what they think we should have for dinner. Sometimes I leave it open ended and sometimes I give them a few choices. We will talk about the meal several time through the day so they are anticipating the meal.
• Whenever possible, I try to involve them in the preparation. Whether it's getting the ingredients out of the fridge or helping with the actual preparation - involvement makes them feel some sort of ownership over the meal.
• I talk about how the food will help their body. This gives them a reason to eat the food other than us wanting them to. They aren't willing to do things for us and our enjoyment... but tell them it helps their body make energy for them to run around and they are often more willing to give it a try. While my daughter is a bit young still, my son is able to identify proteins and carbs and is always conscious of how many he puts into his body. If he hasn't had enough protein in the day - it's not too hard to convince him to finish the last of his meatloaf.
• We don't give them much fast food... so they don't know that there is something else to hold out for. I agree with kids - fast food sometimes tastes better than healthy food... it's all that grease! But I figure they'll have plenty of time to try fast food when they are older.

In addition to the presentation... I think these are the things that have helped me have kids that are good eaters. We don't do many things well (we still allow our daughter to sleep in our bed when she comes in to our room in the middle of the night. Yes, I know... but we are tired!) - but I do think that we've done a decent job of starting them off with healthy eating habits.