Taco Tuesdays 21/31 #sol17

Our golden day of the week. Our one guaranteed win of a dinner meal that everyone in the family will enjoy. All other nights it's even less than a crap shoot. On all other nights, unless we are serving bread, cheese, or plain pasta, our big kid doesn't eat.

In trying to parent this child, I have learned so much. I'm more and more convinced that what children eat has more and more to do with nature than nurture. I have learned to be a lot more kind and forgiving to my own parents in their own food related parenting techniques with my brother and I and our "picky" eating.

I have hated that term picky eater and try to avoid it for my own children. I always felt like being called a picky eater was an insult in my family and like I was blamed for being that way, like it was a choice and I chose wrong. For a long time I blamed my parents for catering to my brother and I too much. I have one memory of my parents picking up Mexican food for me and sushi for my brother before going out to eat where they wanted (of course my brother and I were both picky, but in opposite ways). I thus was sure that if I just served my own kids whatever I was making and not provide alternatives, they would either eat it or go hungry and that after a while they would be tired of going without dinner. Well, touche...surprise, surprise it hasn't been that easy. My child is of course as stubborn as I was and doesn't care if he misses dinner (and sometimes lunch).

We try hard to limit snacks and to provide a wide variety of healthy meals that he is at least exposed to and will have in his vocabulary. We try to model healthy eating, but chips are our weakness.

I'm tired of stressing though. I've stressed ever since he was nine months old and we started solids with him! Now that he is four and a half years old and I read this great blog post...I'm done! I have faith that he will be a way better eater than I was  as soon as he decides to start trying new foods.

So tonight and every Tuesday night we eat tacos. We smile and laugh and go back for more. Ground beef, shredded cheddar cheese, hard taco shells and soft tortillas, with salsa and avocado. Taco Tuesday for the win!