Snider Rule #3 - Let's Have a Food Fight - No Thanks!

How to Ruin a Good Meal

My favorite time of the day ==> eating dinner with family and friends.  Lingering for over an hour eating, talking, discussing, sharing, and laughing. Time spent with people while sharing food is refreshing physically, emotionally and spiritually.

On the really good days, a wonderful aroma is lingering in the front yard and I catch it as soon as open the car door.  The sun is still up, the sky is blue and it is almost dinner time.  I'm getting hungry just typing this.

One thing that detracts from a pleasant meal is grumbling at the table.  It brings everyone down and deflates the person who spent time preparing the meal.  On the very rare occasion that Gina is too sick to cook, I can get apprehensive about planning a meal that everyone will like.  Back in the day with 11 people being fed each evening it was impossible to please everyone every night.  Most nights there was at least one person who wasn't going to enjoy the food as much as the rest of us.

Here is how Gina solved much of the angst and conflict around meals and children who could be picky eaters:

• Only prepare one meal that is shared by everyone
• You must taste every item on your plate. We want to develop an openness to new foods. Plus you learn that your taste change over time. What you once hated, you may enjoy when you get older.
• Only eat what you want and how much you want.  This is the number one way to avoid conflict at the table. With all our kids we rarely had any leftovers.
• Prepare a much loved dessert on nights we are testing a new recipe or it is challenging meal for several kids.  Gina was careful to put reasonable portions on the kids plate.  If she knew it was something they didn't like the portion would be small.  They had to finish their entire meal (or receive special grace) to get dessert.  This was an amazing way to motivate people to try something new.
• You don't have to eat anything you paid for!  Ok, ok I know what you are thinking but it was accepted by everyone. This was a special rule I came up with on the spur of the moment when being questioned by the kids about why my plate didn't have every item on it. I didn't use it very often but there are a couple things I hate, so I pulled rank on the kids.

I can't wait for dinner tonight!