Kids Dish

KidsDish: I’d like to introduce Lee and Lyn Battersby, a married couple from Perth who both balance writing careers with the busy day-to-dayness of work, family and… well, more family!

Welcome to KidsDish, L&L! Tell us a little about yourselves.

L&L: We’re a blended family of 7: Lyn contributed 3 children, Lee one, and we collaborated on our youngest. We’re both award-winning short story writers, currently working on novels and a screenplay. We have two passions in life: our family and writing, and everything else is worked in around the edges of those. We currently live a medium bike ride away from the beach about 40km North of Perth. Lyn is rubbish at gardening, which is fine because Lee enjoys it. He, in turn, is rubbish at housework, which is unlucky because Lyn hates doing it all, so he has to help anyway

(Lyn would like to point out that she *has* been helping out with the garden: she can point a hose and buy a flower with the best of them! And she took the momentous step of planting some of them recently)

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

L&L: 5 kids — Cassie, Aiden, Blake, Erin and Connor, respectively aged 15, 13, 12, 5, and 2.

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

L&L: With the first 4, a lot, when they’re with us. Cassie has become more picky in recent days, and tends to rely on the usual teen fare– McDonalds and 2 minute noodles. Connor also tries to be very picky, and will throw away whatever food he doesn’t like. The two youngest children go to day care every week: Connor for five days, and Erin for 2 afternoons and 3 full days. We’re aware of the centre’s menus, and have offered suggestions, but on the whole they’re fed pretty well there– lots of fruit and vegetables, and nutritious things throughout the day.

As a family we probably eat out a bit too much, but try to avoid fast food. We eat at cafes and Sizzler, where we can order the kids to eat salad However, Lyn’s an excellent cook, and we both concentrate on low-fat alternatives and healthy variations when we eat. We also have a system of allowing the kids to name two foods they don’t like, which they then don’t have to eat. For example, when Cassie was younger, her two items were avocado and pumpkin. Later, she declared a dislike for sardines. In order to add it to her list, she had to take one of the others off, which then became part of her eating. Pumpkin was dropped, and now she loves it. It gives the kids a feeling of choice, and allows us a wide range when cooking for them.

There are some foods we don’t expect the kids to eat, such as peanut butter and raw onions, but they’re either things we hate ourselves or obvious stuff.

KidsDish: What are their favourite foods?

L&L: Cassie loves Lyn’s chicken & vegetable soup, and curry. Aiden will eat anything put in front of him except peanut butter, but being 13 and a boy, declares KFC as his eating preference at all times (he lives in a hard luck zone ) Blake is a pizza lover, so we try to make home made pizzas every now and again to at least ensure he eats good ones. Erin is a pasta fiend (all pasta is spaghetti, and all spaghetti is good…) as well as a dedicated lover of sushi. And Connor is also a pasta and sushi lover, although he’s recently started to eat his Dad’s breakfast cereal (Bran flakes with sultanas and yoghurt-covered sultanas) with a single inhalation.

(For the record, Lyn loves spaghetti Bolognaise, and Lee is a pasta fiend, so, you know….). A quick and easy family favourite is pasta in thick tomato soup, with grated cheese melted into it.

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?

L&L: The kids will eat fruit at the drop of a hat, and they’ll all pick up a tomato and eat it like an apple. Lyn makes a lot of casseroles, and the younger two can get a bit picky about them, especially Connor. Tricks include grating vegetables into dishes, and making many sauces tomato-based. (She says this tactic works with the zucchini-hating Lee as well). They’ll happily eat salads and Connor’s a big rap for food he can hold: he loves broccoli, too.

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

L&L: Lyn loves cooking for the family, to the point where Lee rarely does any more. He likes it, but Lyn is passionate. She particularly loves cooking spag bol, and totally believes nobody in the world cooks it as well as she does. She also loves cooking soups, and is the muffin queen of the universe. Lee cooks a perfect pasta carbonara, has a killer recipe for fish cottage pie, and loves a tomato and capsicum soup that the rest of the family do nothing but complain about so he never cooks it anymore.

KidsDish: What’s your breakfast routine?

L&L: At the moment, the kids have either Weetbix or the bran flakes with sultanas. Connor’s refusing to adjust to daylight saving time, so his gets boxed up and served to him at day care. Our weekend routine usually includes either pancakes, or a home made cooked breakfast of eggs, beans, hash browns, lean bacon, and tomatoes.

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

L&L: The older four kids all enjoy cooking, and get a chance every now and again. Cassie’s speciality is an Asian style chicken & noodle soup. Aiden cooks scrambled eggs regularly and does a mean satay. Blake is also an egg cooker, and has a list of ingredients for his special version that’s about a mile long. Erin is at the helping-Mummy stage, especially with muffins and Anzac cookies. It’s all about licking the spoon…. Connor, well, we’d let him do something if he’d stand still long enough…

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

L&L: We feel guilty that we eat out too much, and with summer (and poverty) hard upon us we’re making an effort to eat at home much more. There’s no excuse, really: we much prefer home cooking, and it’s usually a weak need for convenience that sends us out– we both work full time, we fit food shopping in on a Thursday night, when the kids are cranky and we’ve already put in 10-11 hour work days (we live an hour’s journey from our jobs) and often it’s just easier to sit in the food hall than come home and *then* start cooking.

Even then, we keep control of what they eat- sushi is a better choice than KFC, and so on, but we’d much rather know every ingredient than trust in others, so we get the guilts.

KidsDish: What’s your favourite vegetable?

L&L: The tomato. Yeah, so it’s a fruit, but it’s still our favourite It’s amazingly flexible, fits in everywhere from salads to sauces, is highly nutritious, and can taste wonderful (beefsteak tomatoes are divine). And the kids love them. Lyn also loves pumpkin, but the raw flesh burns her skin, so it’s a matter of asking Lee to peel so she can cook it.

KidsDish:Thanks so much for taking part in this interview, guys! I know your lives are hectic, and I appreciate you taking the time.

L&L: Hope you like the answers!