What Are Your Kids Eating Tonight?

[zgast]

1 hour ago, lion said:

It does seem like a long march with distance learning for kids.

Today, our rising 1st grade son had a video chat with his new teacher. From what she said, the school day will be much fuller than the spring term as they have prepared to replicate a regular school day's activities with specials and different level reading and math groups. 

Everyday lunch will be between 12 and 1, so at least our schedule will be more fixed moving into the fall. At least dinner has fallen into a routine where we rotate thru 7-8 things over two weeks.

 

You could always mix things up by trying to orchestrate an international move and home sale.  Can't recommend it highly enough - it's doing wonders for my anxiety level.....

[lion]

That's rough buddy

[leleboo]

On 8/27/2020 at 3:54 PM, zgast said:

You could always mix things up by trying to orchestrate an international move and home sale.  Can't recommend it highly enough - it's doing wonders for my anxiety level.....

International? CRIPES. Where ya headed? We are building a house up the road (different school district) and the Air Force will be paying for our move, and and we rent now so we don’t have to sell this time. It’s STILL stressful. 

 

Lion, that seems hard for 1st grade. We still (HAHAHAHAH) don’t have our final plan, but the suggestion was that it would be a bit of synchronous time in the morning, and asynchronous otherwise. Plus my 3rd grader gets gifted services, so that’s also supposed to be a once-a-week synchronous pull-out. But spending all day replicating “school” ... that sounds hard. At least you have a lunch break! 

Since I’m packing lunches again for my kindergartener, I’m largely doing it for my at-home older one too. It’s almost “fun” to eat out of the lunch box at this point! 

[zgast]

32 minutes ago, leleboo said:

International? CRIPES. Where ya headed? We are building a house up the road (different school district) and the Air Force will be paying for our move, and and we rent now so we don’t have to sell this time. It’s STILL stressful. 

Lion, that seems hard for 1st grade. We still (HAHAHAHAH) don’t have our final plan, but the suggestion was that it would be a bit of synchronous time in the morning, and asynchronous otherwise. Plus my 3rd grader gets gifted services, so that’s also supposed to be a once-a-week synchronous pull-out. But spending all day replicating “school” ... that sounds hard. At least you have a lunch break! 

London - which is why I can forgive myself for ordering in two meals today (partly first day of school reasons, too).  Any move is tough though.

I can't imagine trying to supervise virtual school for a six year old. Meals are something that should be simple, simple at that point.

[lion]

16 hours ago, leleboo said:

Lion, that seems hard for 1st grade. We still (HAHAHAHAH) don’t have our final plan, but the suggestion was that it would be a bit of synchronous time in the morning, and asynchronous otherwise. Plus my 3rd grader gets gifted services, so that’s also supposed to be a once-a-week synchronous pull-out. But spending all day replicating “school” ... that sounds hard. At least you have a lunch break! 

Since I’m packing lunches again for my kindergartener, I’m largely doing it for my at-home older one too. It’s almost “fun” to eat out of the lunch box at this point! 

His teacher said today that we'll be working our way up to an hour+ language session after morning roll call! I can see this working for 3rd graders and above but for 1st and 2nd graders it seems a bit ambitious

[leleboo]

7 hours ago, lion said:

His teacher said today that we'll be working our way up to an hour+ language session after morning roll call! I can see this working for 3rd graders and above but for 1st and 2nd graders it seems a bit ambitious

Meep. Even my 3rd grader has a hard time with a straight hour of virtual togetherness. May the odds be ever in your favor. 

[lion]

Thanks, I'll need all the good wishes possible. He's usually good for 20-30 minute long sessions for individual assignments and video calls with classmates, too. Beyond that length of time, it's harder to keep it together. Actually, I can sympathize, that's my limit too especially when zoom meetings start to meander all over the place! 

Remarkably, about a month ago, he started really reading by himself which has been good for all of us. He's been going back to all the books we read to him for bed time stories and exploring them by himself. 

Tonight, cheese topped ramen has been requested! 

[dracisk]

My husband gave my 6-year-old a big bowl of Goldfish and an orange soda at 5pm. 🙄🤯 Shockingly, she's not hungry for dinner. But still wants dessert!

[zgast]

3 hours ago, dracisk said:

My husband gave my 6-year-old a big bowl of Goldfish and an orange soda at 5pm. 🙄🤯 Shockingly, she's not hungry for dinner. But still wants dessert!

Sounds like a yummy dinner to me!  Goldfish are the one kid food that I'll still go for all of the time.

[dracisk]

14 hours ago, zgast said:

Sounds like a yummy dinner to me!  Goldfish are the one kid food that I'll still go for all of the time.

Oh I love them but I don't usually eat them for dinner (but I probably have at some point)!

[leleboo]

On 9/2/2020 at 5:09 PM, lion said:

! 

Remarkably, about a month ago, he started really reading by himself which has been good for all of us. He's been going back to all the books we read to him for bed time stories and exploring them by himself.

My older started reading independently at 3.5 (because she wanted to, not because I’m good at teaching humans to read) and my 5.5yo started last spring during quarantine, before kindergarten. I actually became such a fan of the books we used to help them that I started selling them...and also went down the rabbit hole of encouraging reading. If you ever want some support, lmk.

But back to the topic...why do my kids hate zucchini? It’s so inoffensive! They like a number of much more difficult veggies, but zucchini is a no go. This is hard at the end of summer. 🤣😂

[DonRocks]

50 minutes ago, leleboo said:

But back to the topic...why do my kids hate zucchini? It’s so inoffensive! 

It's got to be the texture - that little bit of squeaky firmness, and then ... squish.

Have you tried making a puree and deceiving them? Or if that won't work, making an 80-20 mashed potato - zucchini puree, slowly upping the percentage of zucchini, and telling them it's calabacín if they ask why the potatoes are green?

[saf]

1 hour ago, leleboo said:

But back to the topic...why do my kids hate zucchini? It’s so inoffensive! 

You sound like my mother. And sorry, I STILL hate zucchini. The texture is gross, and the flavor is so...green.

[zgast]

14 hours ago, DonRocks said:

It's got to be the texture - that little bit of squeaky firmness, and then ... squish.

Have you tried making a puree and deceiving them? Or if that won't work, making an 80-20 mashed potato - zucchini puree, slowly upping the percentage of zucchini, and telling them it's calabacín if they ask why the potatoes are green?

Pancakes!  It masks the green.  Even better if you just get the yellow squash. 

[lion]

On 9/6/2020 at 6:38 PM, leleboo said:

My older started reading independently at 3.5 (because she wanted to, not because I’m good at teaching humans to read) and my 5.5yo started last spring during quarantine, before kindergarten. I actually became such a fan of the books we used to help them that I started selling them...and also went down the rabbit hole of encouraging reading. If you ever want some support, lmk.

But back to the topic...why do my kids hate zucchini? It’s so inoffensive! They like a number of much more difficult veggies, but zucchini is a no go. This is hard at the end of summer. 🤣😂

Thanks for the offer to help Leleboo, we're ok on books. That's one area where we've probably gone overboard on since my wife or I have read to him every night after bringing him home from the hospital. Currently, his library is over a hundred books and that's after donating or giving away a majority of his border books. Actually my wife 'sneaks' several books into every Amazon order or we regularly place orders to our local bookstore, Scrawl Books, in Reston. 

 

[leleboo]

Tonight is spinach ravioli-sagna. I didn’t have lasagna noodles and just wanted to use up some sauce and ricotta. Kids were amazed you can cook the ravioli right in the sauce, even though that’s how I do lasagna too, but whatever — it’s nice to feel like a wizard.

[dracisk]

My daughter had a turkey sandwich on wheat -- no cheese, no mayo -- with some apple slices. We're taking a break from cooking and Christmas leftovers.

[lion]

We're wrapping up our New Year's Day leftovers, Halibut with pesto and pasta. Our son will eat white fish but mainly his fish favorite is still salmon. 

The perennial question, has anyone had any good results with trying a new recipe for kids? 

[zgast]

53 minutes ago, lion said:

We're wrapping up our New Year's Day leftovers, Halibut with pesto and pasta. Our son will eat white fish but mainly his fish favorite is still salmon. 

The perennial question, has anyone had any good results with trying a new recipe for kids? 

Yes!  We've appeared to have a breakthrough with our blanditarian son.  And it all started with Szechuan peanut sauce (little sweet, a little spicy), which opened him up to the idea that flavor might not be all bad.  Specifically it was Jade peanut sauce, but we've made our own and even branched out into dan dan noodles and currries since.

Salmon remains king in our house too.  Teriyaki, preferably.

[lion]

On 1/5/2021 at 10:16 AM, zgast said:

Yes!  We've appeared to have a breakthrough with our blanditarian son.  And it all started with Szechuan peanut sauce (little sweet, a little spicy), which opened him up to the idea that flavor might not be all bad.  Specifically it was Jade peanut sauce, but we've made our own and even branched out into dan dan noodles and currries since.

Salmon remains king in our house too.  Teriyaki, preferably.

The Szechuan peanut sauce is a good idea, sadly our son doesn't like the peanut flavor at the moment. Kind of funny, even for the Halloween candy, I end up eating his Reese's candies.

Though you've given me the inspiration to give dan dan noodles a try! Thanks!

[KeithA]

On 1/5/2021 at 9:18 AM, lion said:

The perennial question, has anyone had any good results with trying a new recipe for kids? 

I've found that you need to try out the recipes a few times and insist they take as we say a "polite bite" which means an actual real taste of the food and not a sliver. If they don't like it, then they don't need to keep eating, but then if it is something I think they'll like then we insist on future tastes. After 3-4 times, if they still don't like it we move on. We've only had limited success but hey any success is worth it, right? I think my girls are finally ok with the occasional green bean to add to their limited vegetable repertoire. The multiple tries approach is also good because I find sometimes they are just again trying new stuff and other times they are more willing, which may color their taste perception.

Although I will occasionally try something once and simply move on. I had high hopes for bulgogi because they like sweet, will eat teriyaki chicken, and they like steak. Well that was an epic fail.

In the mean time, its lots of pasta with butter/salt and blandish chicken for them.

 

[lion]

Yes we also found the try again method but as our son has gotten older, he's becoming stronger in his opinions on food. It is interesting to see from a culinary point of view especially since my wife and I do place a lot of value on a diversity of favors and experiences. 

One thing which I think has probably played a large role is the isolation of being at home this year. Before we would go to restaurants or even travel and he was more likely to enjoy new favors. Now, he just wants his favorites! I guess comfort food during these trying times even helps him. Of course, we're getting tired of the same old things. What can you do? 🤷‍♂️

[lion]

We started watching Netflix's Waffles and Moichi show with our 6 year old son and throughly enjoyed it. Seeing Chef Jose Andres making gazpacho and doing a dance was a hoot. Definitely recommend watching it with kids and maybe even as a stand alone show!