eating dinner....

one of our favorites, lasagna (with lots of veggies and salad on the side)

in the "middag" post over at "jeg er jonathan" Vigdis answers to a question on whether or not they adjust their dinnerplan for children... others replied to the post as well, and based on both their answers and experience from friends of mine with children, it is my impression that many families today prioritise to eat the same dinner... some with modifications and others without. they each find the key to how this works out the best for them... some cook primarily children friendly dishes, or at least dishes they know are accepted, others modify the seasoning or avoid certain ingredients, others again include the children in the desicion and planning of what is for dinner... and I'm sure there are many more ways out there. all with the purpose to eat a nice dinner together and have a good time...

this took me back to when I was a little girl... my parents weren't different from a lot of other parents at the time, we are talking the mid eighties, so it has been a while, but still... having dinner at my house would mean everybody eating together (no exception), eating what was served (i.e. taste and not liking it, wasn't really an option, neither was influencing the desicion on what we were having, unless I was helping cooking), finishing your plate (or at least a reasonable part of what was on there), not leaving the table before everyboy were done (I remember a few exceptions, but they really were the exceptions) and finally an overall focus on table manners... and I wonder how this framework for having dinner has changed...? I, for one, have given this quite a bit of thought*... of course I want our children to have good table manners, but what are good table manners to me (here you have probaly guessed they have changed a bit from the ones I experienced myself, guess I'm going for a bit more hippie happy version)? and what are good table manners today? an example of good table manners in my book is, among others, a child who tastes unknown food and then decides...

*a part of the story is that our oldest son was born with a serious stomach issue, and on top of having gone through a problematic first year, due to this, he is/was at risk of developing a troublesome relationship to foods/eating. fortunately he is now doing fine, crossing our fingers that everything continues this way...

thoughts on baby-food...

with a baby in the house who seems to think milk is the o n l y way to go, my faith in myself cooking baby-food is put to the test... no matter what is on the spoon* his mouth remains closed! as I don't believe in forcing him in any way, we have now settled on a little compromise... I get to put a little porridge, puré or whatever I'm trying to serve him, on his upper lip, he will lick it and taste... and then he proceeds to grap a piece of fruit or vegetable and feed himself, alternatively smearing it all over... if I try to load the spoon and give it to him, he will turn it around and have the handle in his mouth in no time, but the end with food on it... not so much... however, looking on the bright side, he really likes baked potato wedges, and is almost able to eat one, even with no teeth...

*just to make sure that it wasn't something as simple as the spoon he didn't like, he has tested out several different shapes, materials and colors... need I say with no luck.

in the light of the challenges we're facing regarding baby-food, I've spent a long time wondering which would be the better way for us to go... 

- is he simply not quite ready for solids yet (despite him being now a bit more than seven months)?

- does he prefer to control what goes in his mouth?

- doesn't he like the texture of puré, mash or porridge, but prefers to chew even with no teeth?

- and of course the obvious for a slightly concerned mother as myself... would it be better to buy readymade baby-food, would he like this better? (fortunately this is easy to test out, so we did... with no success).

fortunately he seems curious and interested in what he is served, he investigates and occasionally chews on both fruit and vegetables served in pieces, and hopefully slowly he will learn that good things can also come on a spoon... 

in the meantime... 

I'm trying to keep my spirit up by cooking a varied selection of baby-foods, on occasion they are even served in my favorite little glass bowl and hoping that one day (before too long) his little mouth will open and he will enjoy what the spoon brings...