Kids Dish

KidsDish: Meet Anna, everybody! Anna, could you tell us a little about yourself?

Anna: I’m a part-time statistician working in the health field, with a plethora of hobbies. These include a partner, three kids, food, books, music, dancing, science fiction, and my garden, which I hope will be a fabulous place to relax one day. I aspire to growing a good percentage of the fresh vegies that our family consume, but until we have some trees to cool our garden down, I’m not having much luck. Since finishing my most recent studies last year, I’ve been trying to give more back to the community, getting involved in volunteer efforts in a number of areas - school meetings, running science fiction convention, judging for a book award. I enjoy talking about myself, and really should stop now!

KidsDish: How many kids do you have, and what ages?

Anna: 3 kids, aged 8, nearly 6, 2

KidsDish: How much influence do you have over the food they eat?

Anna: A reasonable amount. The youngest one gets three days a week of daycare food, which is okay. The older two get two days a week of after school care food, which seems a little less carefully thought out in terms of nutrition, and more focused on variety and things kids will eat

KidsDish: What are their favourite foods?

Anna: Hmm. Oldest one will eat just about anything containing peanut butter. Youngest one is pretty keen on sweet things - chocolate, bikkies, etc. Oldest one very fond of green apples as well (wouldn’t allow friends to cook ‘his’ apples to make dessert, as he ‘needs’ them for school). Little one very keen on lentils, mandarins, berry fruits, tomatoes, rockmelon. Middle child will cheerfully eat body weight in watermelon, but seems a lot more relaxed about food than the other two, thus has fewer ’stand out’ likes. All of them very fond of olives, middle one also capers, older one dill pickles.

KidsDish: Do you have trouble getting them to eat healthy food, like fruit and vegetables? What methods have you developed to encourage them towards healthy food?

Anna: I’ve not had a problem with getting them to eat healthy foods - I think that modelling from the adults around them is very important, and we eat a pretty good diet, as do most of our friends. There are particular fruits and vegetables that they don’t eat, but we have allowed them to pick three that they won’t eat, and anything else they are required to eat (acquired this idea from Battblush). One thing that we do do to encourage them to eat healthy food is to talk about what is in food, and why we make the choices. I don’t think the little one understands much of it yet, but she certainly has the idea of ’sometimes food’. The older one is getting a pretty good idea of RDI, necessary nutrients, reasons for why we eat the way that we do.

It helps that we are a predominantly vegetarian household - I don’t cook meat, as I find it takes too long. I can get a meal on the table in 30 minutes, from opening the fridge door saying ’so, what shall we eat tonight’ to the last person sitting down to eat, as long as I don’t try and add meat to anything (bacon is the exception, but I probably only cook it once a quarter).

My favourite technique for getting them to eat things is the ‘whinge’ rule - they are allowed to not eat something that someone has served for them, but they are not allowed to whinge about it. The question ‘do I have to eat [X]?’ has only one answer - ‘YES’. Comments of ‘I don’t like [Y]‘ are followed by statement of ‘well, if you don’t complain, you don’t have to eat it. just put it to the side of your plate’.

Various other thoughts: We don’t use dessert as a reward, it is an occasional thing, depending on whether someone felt like cooking it, although a reasonable amount of dinner should be consumed. Claims of ‘not hungry’ where mains are concerned are immediate grounds for not receiving dessert, unless one parent judges that other parent served more than a reasonable amount of mains. Children get a say in what they eat - everything is brought to the table in cooking/serving dishes, and served out. However, they don’t get complete control. If there are a variety of vegetables, they are required to eat a quantity (approximately 1/2 a cup for the big kid, but it can all be cauliflower). Servings are kept small - better to ask for seconds than not finish firsts.

KidsDish: Do you enjoy cooking for your family? What are some of your favourite things to prepare?

Anna: Love cooking. Most of my favourites are not things I get to do frequently, because they are either not healthy enough, or they are too time consuming. We all love spinach gnocchi, although will use pretty much any similar vegetable (current favourite is warrigal greens). I like red lentils, which I usually do with some mix of spices, because they are so quick - much faster to do a pot of lentils than to order take away. Have recently learnt to make profiteroles (dairy and wheat free), so practice those whenever I have time and opportunity. Love making cakes/biscuits. Have had a bit of sucess with nougat, but really can only do that when I have the house to myself - the last two attempts I’ve managed to burn something.

KidsDish: What’s your breakfast routine?

Anna: Mostly everyone gets their own. On weekends, we try and sit together, make it more of a family thing. Sometimes, someone makes porridge (one of the adults, or the 8 year old), which is very quick and easy in the microwave. Different family members have different cereal preferences, all of which are healthy enough that I’m happy to indulge them.

KidsDish: Do any of your kids cook, or prepare food? If so, what sort of food can they prepare?

Anna: The 8 year old can, when I’m willing to let him. He is competent at french toast, porridge (microwave), not quite confident with pikelets. Dab hand at peanut butter sandwiches, but not so good on the cleaning up. The other two get to help sometimes, but I’m not ready to let them have as much autonomy - more about my ability to give them space in the kitchen, and less about their readiness/willingness to learn. All of them can watch a pot, and stir, with varying levels of trustworthiness.

KidsDish: Do you ever feel guilty about what you feed your kids?

Anna: Yes.

KidsDish: What’s your favourite vegetable?

Anna: Do I only get to pick one? For eating or for cooking? We eat a lot of cauliflower - I like it because all the family will eat it, it is quick, can be plain, or fancied up. Tomatoes are also a family favourite, although eldest son goes through fads with regards them. For eating, maybe spinach - good for cooking, adds to a salad, gives colour and texture to sauces.

KidsDish: Thanks for taking part in this interview!

Anna: You are welcome.