The Joys of Meal times with a 2 & 4 year old

The joys of meal times…

Yes, the dreaded meal times 🙂

Life was so much easier when all you had to do was give them your boob or line up 5 ready-made bottles of formula! Obviously when the health visitor used to visit with my second child I hid them and told her that of course I made them up one at a time, even at 3am in the morning with a screaming child waiting to be fed;-) Rushing to make it then praying for it to cool down before your screaming child woke your other child or children up, or god forbid the man in the house! We all know how grumpy they can be when they have their 9 hours sleep interrupted!

I prayed to see the back of bottles, sterilizers and all the bits that go with it. Little did I realise what stage I was about to be entering.

Weaning Starts

Both my kids started out great, oh yeah! I loved going to Asda or Tesco and perusing the baby jar aisle! I did, I loved it. I used to get excited about what delights I was going to serve them up that day. Unfortunately I wasn’t smart enough to start feeding them ‘normal’ food from the start as some clued up parents do. I wish I had, but the thought of cooking and freezing was just too much. I am no domestic goddess at the best of times. The cauliflower cheese was my favourite, no idea what the kids thought of it but it my head it was lush.

As they grew I introduced the mash potatoes mixed with broccoli….and it was home made this time! This was a huge success. I would find myself bragging, ’oh my kids eat anything’! Oh if only I had kept my smug mouth closed.

What My Children Actually Eat

My 4 year old daughter isn’t too bad now to be fair. As long as its pasta…with pasta. In fact her favourite meal is Heinz Ravioli with pasta? That is pasta with pasta you ask…..I think so. It does the trick and she is now keen on fruit so happy days.

Now on to my 2 year old son. He survives on:-

Sausage rolls
Sausages (but only from Cafe Vero in Knebworth village or B&Q tea wagon)
Yoghurts (if they have daddy pig on them)
Rice pudding
Fish fingers – but ONLY if they are from McDonalds, every mums favourite takeaway!

I have now got to the point where I chase him around the house with a spoon full of Vitabiotics Wellkid Infant Liquid 150ml vitamins in the hope this makes me a better parent. I do still try every day to introduce vegetables or fruit to him but like the flannel, he seems terrified of them.

So to all you mummy’s and daddy’s force feeding your children and stressing about it 3 times a day…..apparently it gets better…….hopefully!!!!

Jane Batts is mum to Lola 4 and Stanley 2. She presents the SG1 80’s radio show every Sunday 3pm to 5pm.