Friday, March 5, 2010

Life Is A Hot, Expensive Mess!

The most knowledgeable experts in the field of parenting are the people without children!  I had a ton of theories about the best way to raise my child, and one by one they have been going down in a blaze of glory!  I will probably have many posts on my theories, but right now, lets talk about eating, shall we?

In one of my (many) theories about being a parent, I had a pretty strong one about food and feeding.  I felt that in order to raise an independent child (yeah right…like that would be a problem!), he would need to have freedom when he ate.  I started off letting him hold a spoon while I fed him with another one.  I even timed it to where it was like he was feeding himself!  I had visions of letting him play in his food.  “If it’s not messy, you’re doin’ it wrong!” I thought. 

Well, now I have a different view.  “A messy meal is a wasted meal!” is my new motto.  As cute as it is, I can’t stand to see food all over Harrison.  Wasted food means wasted money, and all I can see on his face is dollars!  Maybe when my hubby finally gets a better job, and we don’t qualify for WIC, I’ll make my own baby food and not be as stingy.  But when we only get so many 4-ounce jars, it’s hard to let him go after it. 

What do you other mommies do when it comes to feeding time?  And if your little one isn’t eating solids yet, what are your theories? 

(And, can someone let me know how to be notified when someone comments on my blog, and how I can make sure someone is notified when I comment back to them?)

3 comments:

  1. on your dashboard, go to the settings tab. then the comments tab. scroll down to bottom and there is a place "comment notification email" where you can enter an email address and it will send you a message each time you get a comment.

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  2. hey Em. SO I am reading this and thinking to myself how I did it when Judah was this age. I read a great book by Annabel Karmel and a few others about feed babies/toddlers and how to mature their palette. One of these included pureeing food that you have made to eat yourself. We didn't buy jarred baby food often - it was far too expensive and had far too many additives/preservatives. So I would cook a meal for Matthew and myself and use LOADS of herbs and different spices..(nothing to spicy but the herbs are great to get them use to new and exciting flavors) then I would dip out a small portion and put it in the food processor until it was a consistancy that he would be able to eat. I attribute Judahs love for all different sorts of food to how I fed him as a baby. He at the age of 2 and now 3 LOVES raw broccoli,roasted brussel sprouts, parsnip, black and green olives, kiwi, pineapple, LOVES indian food, couscous, mushrooms, eggplant, brown rice...the list goes on and on...these are foods most children his age and even older wouldn't touch. But he is totally open to trying new things/flavors and often loves them. We found it cheaper to do it that way. Oh and I didn't let him feed himself until he was older...I didn't enjoy cleaning up food that was all over the place...and it was a waste. Hope that helps! Love you

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