Children don't come with feeding instructions

But they should. The tag should read: "For a lifetime of use, fill this body with good, nutritious and varied fare. Avoid high fat, fast food and excessive sweets. Fill regularly with water."

Griffin is 12 and my only child. Apparently, God thought he was challenge enough, and didn't give me the ability to have others so my focus could be on him. This is a tenet I accept, although sometimes unwillingly, but in my life, He is in control. Before Griffin was even eating real food, I read an article talking about how to raise a child to be a good eater with a good taste for food and to avoid being picky about what they eat. I refused to buy baby food in jars, but instead made my own, and for the most part, what I ate, my little baby ate as well, and with much enthusiasm and food joy, even at the tender age of a year old; a trait that he carries to this day. During the summer after he turned 1, I sliced a fresh peach and put some pieces on his tray. He took one, ate it and audibly sighed and say "mmmmm" holding out his chubby baby hand for more. At age 3 during the summer, his favorite treat was a fresh apricot from the co-op behind our apartment. The tiny fruit was perfect for his little hand, and he delighted in the juice running down his forearm as he gnawed the tender flesh away from the pit. When the popcorn popper was sputtering and popping on the stove, he would dance around the kitchen, his eyes shining, saying "Pop! Pop! Pop!" and waving his baby arms in the air. At age 5, when given a delicious homemade chocolate pudding pop, he lay on the kitchen floor after removing his shirt so that any mess would be easy to clean up, and he took slow, long swipes at the pop, his eyes half closed in ecstacy. Today, his enthusiasm shows whether sitting over a glass of cold milk and some yummy cookies, or biting into a slice of his favorite homemade pizza, or when I take a sizzling steak off the grill. He loves food, and more importantly, he loves good food and has the ability to be able to tell the difference; a proud sticking point for me.

One thing that I have insisted on with him from those baby days is that he always try whatever it is I am making. He is required to eat a small portion, he is NOT required to like it, and at most it is about a tablespoon or two of food, certainly nothing he can't handle. I always make it positive. When he was younger, I would offer him the amount and say "Yummmm, this is SO good!" and even before he would put it in his mouth I think he was expecting it would taste good. Equate the food positively at that age and how are they even going to know the difference? They aren't old enough to have developed many likes and dislikes, and the only way they know what the world around them is offering is through their parents reactions. So food was always positive in my house, and with lots of variety. Some items we would try and would both dislike them, as much as I tried to muster a smile, in his little boy voice he would say to me "Mom, it's NOT good!" and we would agree never to have it again. But there were many, many items that he liked, both the standard fare for children and some more unusual things as well. This followed him to the present, and has given him a palate that is remarkable for a boy his age. He will eat most anything, and will always try something new because he knows he doesn't have to like it. Two of his most requested dishes are Curry Chicken and Enchiladas. I made a Citrus Chicken Stir Fry one night that he loved, and other stir fries are eaten with a fair dose of enthusiasm even though he often asks me how many pieces of red pepper and zucchini he has to "choke down" (this line always delivered with the wry grin of a teasing mind) He readily tells me that I make the best hamburgers and pizza he's ever eaten, and that dinner at Chez Kate is always preferred to anywhere else. He is not a fast food eater, in fact, he clearly knows that it is poor quality, poor nutrition and tastes like cardboard, but if he's in a group that goes to a fast food joint, he can at least choose something to eat and put it down. He does tend to covet the foods we don't have at home much: junk food like chips and soda, ice cream, store bought cookies, candy etc. etc. We do eat those for special occasions, and have been known to use ice cream as a bribe for task completion many times. But it isn't about deprivation, it's about healthy eating. Everything in moderation, I say. Even moderation.

Lately he has been trying to put his foot down about foods, insisting that he won't eat them even though I know he likes them. I think the peer influence is working it's way into him, and he is trying to be picky without even thinking. And also, he is getting to that age where he needs to be in control of what is going on around him, as so much is still under parental guidance, while at the same time, changes that are happening to him are making him into an adult. I will give leeway where I can, yet meals in our house remain the same. He still has to try it if it's new, but now he is at the age where he can make something for himself if he truly does not want to eat what I prepared. Meals are not planned around what he will eat, but his tastes are taken into consideration, and there is always plenty in the house for him to resort to at the last minute. He tends to be exceptionally lazy though, and the utter horror of eating a plate of fish and veggies is far less strain than having to make something for himself. This is one thing that is not lost on me, so I know the food has to be way down on the chain for him if he heaves himself sullenly off his chair to make a can of soup.

(ok, I am on my soapbox now, so BEWARE!!)
I am a HUGE advocate for healthy eating and cooking, and would love to somehow parlay my culinary training and skills into a postition of teaching people about better ways to eat and cook for themselves at home. I am saddened that my generation may be the last of a dying breed, a generation raised on scratch, home cooking not something that came from a box, bag or freezer. Cooking from scratch does not cost anymore than buying pre-made food, and in some cases the cost is far less. What is costing more is the consequences of one's health from eating too much processed foods. There is no way of overlooking the fact that the skyrocketing obesity rates are directly associated with the increase of the number of processed and pre-made food on the market. I'm talking about Dinner Bakes, Rice a Roni, meals in a bag from the freezer, boxed dinners where you add your own meat, like Hamburger Helper. This is not scratch cooking, and the health costs of eating these foods are unreal. Sodium is off the charts, cholesterol is too high, fat contents are astronomical. And all around us, people are simply getting fatter and fatter. Portions in restaurants are the worst. There is enough food on one plate to feed two people or more, yet one person eats it all. The result is diabetes in children, high blood pressure in teenagers and fatal heart attacks in your 40's. And the fast food industry rakes in billions upon billions of dollars a year feeding people something no better than garbage- nutritionally void, chemically laden, low quality food. It's insidious, and getting worse. There are predictions now that within the next ten years, everything that you can buy in a grocery store can be prepared within 20 minutes of getting it home. That makes me ill. I don't advocate for long, extended cooking times, and eschew anything that takes more than an hour to make, but this is ridiculous to an extreme. You CAN eat well, cook at home and still make time for your crazy, chaotic lifestyle (which is another soapbox I can get on) but there is just no point in sacrificing your health, and that of your children, by feeding them the garbage that people are calling food these days. Change starts slowly, one person, one idea, one step at a time. It's TIME to get the call out and start the change to a better and healthier way of eating.