Be A Food Snob for Your Kids

So, Wednesday night our almost two-year-old son swallowed a Lego guy.  What did I learn from this wonderful experience?  Do not call your husband for advice, he will only say you’re over-reacting.  Of course I over-reacted, what mother wouldn’t?!  It didn’t help that our five-year-old kept telling me different things he swallowed when he wasn’t even in the same room.  After he told me it was Spider Man’s spider web I knew he didn’t see at all what his brother had swallowed.  Mixed reactions always come when you tell people a kid swallowed something.  Some were very concerned and others were laughing, don’t worry the laughter ended with “is he ok?”.

So this incident got me thinking, why do we freak out about objects our children swallow that are not edible yet we don’t freak out about certain foods they eat?  Dad, you can stop rolling your eyes now.  My family has called me a “food Nazi” for years.  Yes, I’ll admit I was that first time mom that watched everything I ate.  I made sure to only feed my baby the best.  I was so careful about every food I fed our first born son, maybe to an annoying point, but with only the best interest at heart.

I am sure when I am not looking my parents are stuffing my kids full of diet coke and mini doughnuts, true story but it was my nephew.  All you have to do is say G-Pa and our youngest responds “doughnuts?” I am not saying we deprive our kids of treats.  And let’s not forget those desperate meals of french fries and ice cream because that’s all they will eat that day. I just prefer that if they are going to eat a doughnut, ice cream, cheeseburgers, or pizza it be homemade, something that tastes a million times better anyway.

If you haven’t figured it out already I also love to cook!  When you know how to cook well, going out to eat at all those fast food places really loses its’ appeal.  I like knowing what I am eating and putting into my body and that goes the same for our boys.  Why would I be careful about what I eat and then care less about what they eat?  If it’s bad for me then it’s probably ten times worse for them, right?  For example, a full child’s meal at McDonald’s is actually an adult serving!  And did you know jelly beans are shining because they are covered in shellac…yum.  That is why the bunny brought the smallest bag possible for our boys this year.  

We are only trying to create good healthy eating habits now, rather than years from now when all those bad habits are formed and harder to break.  I won’t eat dessert at a restaurant that doesn’t make it in house and I won’t order something off a menu I know I can make better at home. 

So yes I am a food snob, we should all be food snobs.  Our bread has five ingredients in it, what’s in yours?