a peek inside the fishbowl

I want to welcome a new patron today but also talk about healthy diets and what our kids should be eating.

It’s funny, the parenting-related promises we make to ourselves before the kids come along… about breastfeeding, co-sleeping, outdoor play, and eating. Well, 12 and a half years ago I pledged that I would never give birth to a picky eater. Har har. I thought that picky eaters were spoiled kids who were coddled by their parents, destined to spend their adult lives at home, alone, eating white bread and baloney sandwiches with the crusts cut off instead of going to fun restaurants with their friends. Well, guess what happened? One of my kids turned out to be someone who is, how shall we say, rather selective about the things she eats.

She’s improving with age, mind you, and she’s not an absolutely terrible eater. There are worse cases than mine. I’ve read about kids who go through a “white” phase, or refuse to eat any and all vegetables. She eats carrots and red peppers, and will choke down a salad if it’s covered with enough dressing. She ate butter chicken last night, which did my heart good and gave me hope.

I am a very well-rounded eater so this has always been a difficult issue for me to deal with. And I am thankful that we have the kind of kids who will try things at least once. One issue that hasn’t been resolved has to do with the variety of foods she will eat. Or should I say, the lack thereof.

I didn’t think I’d be the type of parent who’d ever give her kids vitamins, but here I am.

I started giving her Swiss Natural vitamins because as I watch her get taller (and what stays behind on her dinner plate every night), I fear that she’s missing something crucial. I am aware that it’s preferable that whole foods are the delivery vehicle for nutrients, but the reality is that she’s not getting them all.

She doesn’t eat eggs, nuts, any kind of beans (except chickpeas in hummus), and almost all green veggies. Thankfully, she will eat fruit, some fish, whole grain breads, (although she prefers refined whites), yogurt, and some cheeses. She eats some fish, most meats (as long as there is ketchup), but quinoa? Brown rice? Lentils? Broccoli? Kale? Forget it.

I serve lots of raw veggies at dinner (she won’t eat any cooked vegetables) and heaven forbid anything appear in a casserole, because you know, it’s TOUCHING OTHER FOODS. Soup is only tomato, sometimes chicken noodle. But I would love them both to eat carrot ginger. Or roasted red pepper. Or squash. Gah. Most of the time I’m ok with it, but other times I want to throw my apron into the garbage and hide under the bedcovers, and blame myself for being a bad parent.

I believe that vitamins are an insurance policy against an imperfect diet. Why else would my doctor have recommended I take folate when I was pregnant?

Do you or your kids take vitamins? Why or why not? My daughter has been taking Swiss Natural’s Total One for kids without complaint. She certainly understands why… we have talked about it enough.

I would love to hear what you do to ensure your kids get the right nutrients, whether they are picky eaters or not.

Anyway, this post turned out to be a lot longer than I anticipated. The idea of eating right is one I think about a lot. *sigh*

Thank you Swiss Naturals for stepping up and becoming a blog patron! I do appreciate the support. Fishies, you might be interested to know that Swiss Natural is on Facebook, and is currently hosting a cute contest to name their Total One Polar Pals. You can win a really cool family game pack (and you know how much I love family game night)! Check it out here.

We’ve done this before.

Last night Mark and I scavenged Christmas trees that our neighbours had tossed to the curb. We silently, stealthily, dragged them home and set them up in a row on the front lawn.

Here is what it looked like this morning:

It was a challenge to get them all to stand up, considering we don’t actually have a lot of snow!

The girls thought our new mini forest was pretty funny. I just wish I had a couple more trees to round it out, but our arms were sore and we were tired from the effort. :)

It’s a sledding secret in this part of Ottawa. Have you been sledding at Carlington Hill, just behind Dulude arena? We went skating there yesterday and followed it up with a couple runs down this big ol’ hill.

Do you know it used to be a ski hill? It’s no surprise.

We haven’t been tobogganing here before. Rumour had it that it was snowboarders-only, and that it was rather treacherous. I have to disagree on both counts. I think it’s better and safer than sledding at the Arboretum.

The climb is breathtaking, literally. We were all out of air by the time we reached the top, but it was a grand descent, we shot like arrows into the grey sky, our ruddy faces splattered with bits of snow when we finally reached the bottom.