Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Necessity is the mother of...

Peanut butter and sprinkle sandwiches.

and

Steel cut oatmeal with sprinkles.

Disclaimer: This definitely falls into the category of "this is how I do it" and that doesn't necessarily mean this is how I think you should do it.

But. It. Worked.

It all started innocently, with yogurt in a tube and a coupon.

Hmm. I thought to myself. This is convenient. And with this coupon, these yogurts are only a dollar. And there's no high fructose corn syrup in these. These will be a great product!

Well, people (especially parents of toddlers asserting their independence), do not make this mistake. Leave the coupon right there in the dairy section for someone else to pick up (like a parent of a child that can be reasoned with). I repeat: put down the coupon and the tube yogurt and walk away!

Or else your child will demand to eat only tube yogurt for DAYS at a time. He will sit in his booster seat and wail and point at the fridge whilst a perfectly delicious (and balanced) pasta bake meal goes cold. He will turn up his snot-dripping nose at your pancakes with (pricey) all-natural fruit-only jam. (3.99 per 12 ounces?! Come on, Smuckers. You admit on the label it's only one ingredient. It can't be THAT hard.)

So, when all else fails and you can not get your child to eat something else, I've learned that letting them "help" cook works. And in a pinch, that means "helping" spread peanut butter on bread and letting them decorate their sandwich with a few sprinkles. Then, he happily munched that sammie right down.

Same goes for the oatmeal -- sans sprinkles, he DEMANDED more and more yogurt. Be-sprinkled, the oatmeal was miraculously edible.

And now that the tube yogurt is gone (never to appear in our household again) I am praying that tomorrow we resume our normal eating routine.

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