Every child is different and their eating habits are also different. General problem which mothers face during parenting is about feeding kids. Especially during the age of 2-3, it is a huge task to run behind them and make them eat .Being somewhat "Experienced" in this area now, thought will share few suggestions and ideas regarding food which kids will like.
The first thing which normally happens in any house is the mother wants to feed healthy food and children like to eat only junk food.80% of healthy food and 20% of Junk food is what I felt would work out. So, started working towards at-least 80% of providing healthy food (Dhivya's 80-20 principle:)) ).Fathers somehow end up supporting kids for their happiness and infact we have argued many times for this as well. Then, at times, we have ended up in mixing these 2 and that's how this 80-20 principle :)
Few ideas where I have used this 80-20 principle:
1) Kids always want bread with Peanut butter/mayo/Nutella. As I didn't like the idea of giving bread daily, thought further and came up with this idea of Dosa with spread. Made small uthappams and applied a bit of spread on it , rolled and gave to children. They really liked it. Then had an agreement with them that if they eat one day this Dosa roll, then one day they should have Dosa with Veggies/tricolour dosa. Made small uthappams and sprinkled grated beetroots/carrots, onions and coriander leaves on top which attracted them very much and they quite liked the idea of eating this with tomato sauce. This is a good lunch box idea and still Pranhav takes this once in a week in his tiffin box for breakfast.
2) Feeding rice with Veggies was very difficult in the age of 2-4 and even now sometimes. After making a sambaar & Veggie, they tried to ignore the vegetables totally and were eating rice with potato chips.The idea of making mixed rice with one Veg / veggies was really better . It saves more of cooking effort also and Children couldn't avoid the vegetables much . So, started making one of the following rice items atleast 3 days in a week.
- Bisebele Bath - With Dhaal and more vegetables, less spicy and with a Raitha as side dish , it is a complete meal. Since it is very smooth and tasty , kids eat it easily with a few pieces of potato chips .
- Veg Fried rice/Biriyani - Again with less oil/ghee & with more vegetables, children like this as well .
- Veg Noodles - Started using the plain noodles (Koka brand available in Singapore is without MSG & without Masala as well) with more Veg and desired spices-(Dont tell Pranhav & Magathi , its 80 %-Veg & 20% noodles He he he :D ).Pranhav & Magathi like it. Though they complain that they liked and asked for the plain Maggi noodles only, Manage to eat this with Tomato sauce.
- Beetroot Rice/Carrot rice - Matter of mixing Onion, (Tomato optional based on the texture preferred ) , Beetroot/Carrot and rice with salt -Colourful rice which children dont neglect .
Other than this, There are hundreds of Mixed rice options with different healthy ingredients like, Mushroom rice, Coriander/Mint leaves rice, Corn rice etc which can be found with our great friend Google :)
3) Dosa is a great invention and very flexible item which can be moulded according to children's likes. I have used/am using Dosa as a teaching tool as well :). Infact this idea started from Pranhav only as he wanted Triangle Dosa instead of circle when he was learning shapes . Few Idli and Dosa options which kids will love to eat :). Need not worry about the intake, goes in more than the required quantity :)
- Shapes Dosa - Triangle, circle, square, Heart & What not with just changing the shape of the dosa instead of circle .
- Cone Dosa - Kids love this crispy Dosa . After making normal crispy Dosa, Cut along half the diameter and then roll from one side till the end .
- Alphabets Dosa (During Nursery )- You can ask them for the alphabet option they want and can make and give.Especially, when there are two kids, they will want different alphabets and in competition, dosas will flow in :)
- Name Dosa (During K1 & K2) - Pranhav and Magathi love to get their Name in the plate .. They collect the alphabets of their names and eat with a big smile . Though I am a happy mom at that time, have wished that I could have kept a real long name for them :)).When they were learning Maths, Pranhav has asked for + dosa and - dosa as well :)
- Masala Dosa - Not only kids , we too love it .
- Smiley idli - Make normal idlies and just mark 2 dots and one smile on top with Strawberry / Mango dessert topping before cooking. When the idlies are cooked, they come out with a beautiful smile , of course kids will love to eat . I do this for their tiffin box. If they are immediately eating at home, after cooking the idlies, can ask them to make smiley themselves and eat.
4) Soups and milkshakes are great ways to include vegetables and fruits which kids dont like .Till now , was trying to somehow include Avacados in their meal after hearing its health benefits .They didn't like the taste at all . Hari told that he had avacado milkshake in office and it was wonderful...(Idea !!!) . Tried the Avacado milkshake and was happy with the result :)
Now, had Russian salad in one of the restaurants recently , it was awesome .. Trying to make a modified version soon at home :)
And...If none of these options work out on your child , the last best option to feed a healthy food would be to make them sit in front of the computer (with games they like) and feed them the food... They wont even know even if a fly goes inside their mouth ...and will keep swallowing :))) (Trick that I discovered today :) )
And...If none of these options work out on your child , the last best option to feed a healthy food would be to make them sit in front of the computer (with games they like) and feed them the food... They wont even know even if a fly goes inside their mouth ...and will keep swallowing :))) (Trick that I discovered today :) )
Though, all these options might not be useful for all the kids, Parents can take the 80-20 idea and can try it !
