Sabrina has a new favorite sandwich: peanut butter on whole wheat bread with lettuce and a sprinkling of M&M's. I say, whatever!
I have a very open mind about my kids and food: I think they should be exposed to—and enjoy—all kinds. Growing up, my father was into health food (way before it became fashionable), and he was fond of saying charming things like, "Sugar is poison!" Which of course meant that the second he dropped my sister and me off at a Sunday weekend activity program, we'd make a mad dash for the vending machine and buy candy bar after candy bar.
So, no food is off limits for my kids.
Max's favorite eats:
• Avocado
• Chicken and rice
• Chocolate ice-cream
• Sweet and sour soup
• Meatloaf
• Hamburgers
• Chocolate ice-cream
• Sweet potatoes
• Pancakes
• Berry fruit shakes
• Chocolate ice-cream
Sabrina's favorite foods:
• Pickles
• Breakfast cereal (most any kind)
• Chicken nuggets
• French fries
• Grape tomatoes
• Hard boiled eggs
• M&M's
• Pink ice-cream (whatever flavor, as long as it's pink)
• Chicken salad that we tell her is tunafish (we don't want her downing too much tuna)
On weekends, we sometimes hit McDonald's for lunch. Dave and I get salads; I like the Southwest kind with grilled chicken (I've looked up the nutrition info, it's a respectable 320 calories and 9 grams of fat). Typically, I try to grub a McNugget off Sabrina and typically, she says "No!"
When I went to BlogHer's conference in Chicago this summer, I met a really nice woman, Maggie, who works for McDonald's. She recently invited me to a local McDonald's for a tour. I actually got to go behind the counter; haven't you always wanted to do that?! I was impressed by how clean everything was and surprised to see they made salad orders from scratch. I also got to help make a batch of fries (I know, I am getting to be so wild and crazy lately). And I found out you can customize orders—so if, say, you want a Big Mac without the bun and with balsamic vinaigrette, no problem. Or you can get an Egg McMuffin with no butter. Someday, maybe McDonald's will figure out a way to make four-year-olds share their McNuggets with their moms.
What's your general philosophy on your kids and the foods they eat?
iphoto/Aleksandr Stennikov
