What did your child have for tea today?

[Mulefa]

My dd1 is 3 and a half and tonight she had sausages, couscous, carrots and broccoli (all half eaten!) then a Munch Bunch fromage frais for pudding. She drank diluted apple juice.

I would love to know what other children of any age have for their tea - just out of nosiness and also to get some more ideas!

Thanks!

I have made nuggets and the little, um, "darlings" refused to eat them! I'm not doing it again - they can eat the c* that's in frozen ones instead if that's what they prefer. Grrrrr

nobby I never suggested you should!!!!!!!

soupdragon there is nothing worse than spending half the day preparing and cooking something "new" to have "I dont like that"
happens to me all the time.

SoupDragon... I have been set the challenge by one of my mum clients to feed her kids (3 and 5) proper food.... they ate industrial nuggets on a regular basis... and for 3 months I gave them MY nuggets... they only refused them the first 2 times.... yes the mum kept saying "Oh it's easier of you just do the packet ones".... and I said it's all the same to me, they are your kids but it's not because they refused them once that they will refuse them for ever. When I finished my job, they use to ask for more ! I am sure they are back to packets though

I did make them eat things they ahd never eaten before and it was a challenge but the mum use to eat with them and that did get them toi try it and sometimes (to both our surprise) finish their plate.

Ah.... but my DSs will eat things for, say, my mother that they'd never eat for me! Bet they'd eat your food too, Pupuce

I have managed to get them to eat my homemade shepherd's pie occasionally.

Doormat. I know! It's just one of the things others have suggested that I can't face. And it does work with some children....

So what does it tell you SD?????

The girl I look after (7) has never had a Macdonalds, Burger King KFC etc, in fact the whole family never have (her sis is 12) I reckon when they get their own pocket moiney they'll be off to mackie d's as fast as they can to find out what they are missing!

The other family I look after, 2 boys 4 & 6 have also never had fast food, nuggets, fish fingers etc. They have only ever eaten the same as their parents, who are both working parents, since the 1st son was 8 months, they all eat together every evening.

The first family, Mum is a scientist and is very strict about what the kids eat. I try very hard and only let her have health snacks, but she's kill for the sugar filled cereal bar given the choice!

SoupDragon my ds1 aged 4 will eat all sorts of things at nursery, but won't eat them at home. He will even announce this proudly as he refuses his tea.
He ate very well when younger, but has gradually become more picky. I do try to broaden his horizens, but chicken nuggets, walls balls and turkey dinosaurs feature regularly on his tea-time menu.
DS2 however is still a little star at eating - tonight he shared our meatballs (homemade Delia recipe) whilst DS1 had pitta and tarasamalata.

Pupuce-how come children get to like nuggets-its one of lifes great mysteries. I have spent lots of time wondering this. DS1 was weaned on totally home made pureed veg etc, never had anything out of a packet. As he got older a chicken nugget never crossed our threshold but now thats his number one food- advertising/mcdonalds/something addictive in them -who knows-weird though!

Mine won't eat anything new anywhere! We once had tea at a cousins, I had warned her before about wha the was like and sh etold me he would eat it because he was there. No channce! In fact as they has a very small dining room, the children ate seperatley and he hid roast potatoes all round the room. I was incredibly embarrassed!! Home made pizza tonight!

Nobby like you I would never force kids to eat something they dont like.

Pupuce, it tells me that they don't like my cooking very much and prefer anyone elses!

because it is very fat and sugary and these are 2 nice taste

Why don't you ask your mum to give you her sheppard pie for example and serve it (so see if it is YOUR cooking) or if it is them telling you that they can get away with being fussy.

Sorry do I sound like a mean mum???? I am not really

My kids dont like chicken nuggets or other processed meat. I wish they did sometimes as it would make my job easier.

It's a special school when we think they are sleeping at night. Teaches them all sorts of new things to practise on their parents.

TBH though I personally can't see that the odd processed food here and there is going to hurt. My DD (13 months) has a huge range of foods - mostly fresh and healthy, some processed for my convenience. She likes it all mostly. I believe that so long as everything is balanced and they aren't getting too much of the 'wrong' stuff then it's fine. I don't have time to prepare and cook every day - being honest sometimes after work I feel simply too tired too anyway.

I do thing there is a danger of being too strict though by refusing certain things completely. Not having a go at anyone here, just comes from one of the other comments below. If children are banned from having something they are more likely to want it, hence children who will go and spend their dinner money on crisps, chips and sweets. See it every day - bet they don't tell mum that's what they had!

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

750g minced chicken
175g breadcrumbs
175g grated cheddar
1 tbsp mayo to bind
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper
beaten egg and some fine toasted breadcrumbs to coat the nuggets

Preheat oven to 180C. Mix all ingredients up to and including salt and pepper together. Form into whatever sized nuggets (its up to you, mine are sort of walnut sized) and roll them in beaten egg and then in toasted breadcrumbs. You can freeze them now if you want to.

Place on greased baking sheet and cook for about 20 minutes (45 if frozen). Voila!

Its money saving, honestly, the reason I don't buy much processed food is that we can't afford it. They don't take long to make and once they are done you can freeze them. They are delicious too!

I try not to stress about food as I was given to understand that making an issue about what the kids should eat can lead to power struggles and all sorts of negative things.
A friend of mine has a ds who went through a really bad period of eating very little but drinking lots of milk. He even stopped eating at nursery. This went on for many months and was a terrible problem. Eventually he started eating a breakfast cereal, and now aged 5, he eats everything they eat and is always willing to try new stuff.
I try to get my ds to eat something from all the food groups during the course of the day, and leave it at that

DS (3 1/2) often asks for crisps and sometimes I agree - he never finishes the packet! It's too salty.
He has had processed foods at freinds and he doesn't eat it or doesn't finish it.
I have been told you should not say to a child that "this is good for you and this is not" - I am not sure what the reasoning behind it it.... but my DS knows what is good and bad and will often say : this has a lot of sugar, it's not good for me. he loves cooking so maybe that's why he loves eating.

My kids are by NO MEANS perfect but I do feel their diet is very important for many reasons. They have never had fast food (yet) and if I dare bring them to a fast food chain I am sure DH will get very crossed !

DD loves homemade baby burgers and I really do find these just as easy to make as normal one. I just put some mince, onions, pepper, and herbs in a food processor, whizz it, shape into little balls and bake in oven for about 15 minutes. I make big ones for DH too with some chilli or tabasco for a kick. These freeze as well. Pork and apple are good too apparantly. I don't know - don't eat meat, just cook it!

Enid ... your recipe sounds lovely! My chicken nuggets are not nearly so exciting ... I just cut strips of chicken breast and roll them in egg and then bread crumbs and bake them in the oven for about 20 minutes.
Another variation I got from weight watchers ... instead of bread crumbs bash some cornflakes into crumbs and use them instead ... DS seems to like them.
I feel that I am very lucky as I have a son who likes vegetables ... BUT he is still a fussy eater ... He very rarely tries anything new and there are only about 5 meals that he likes. Chicken nuggets (home made), fish fingers (not home made!), spag bol, risotto and cheese on toast. Every meal he has is with vegetables ...
My DH and I are always arguing about DS' eating habits. DH says that DS is having a laugh and I am being weak ... when he cooks for DS WW3 usually breaks out as DS won't eat it and DH tries to make him.
I was a 'fussy' eater as a child and I remember sitting at the table until 9pm while my brothers and sister played. Nothing I could say could convince my mother that I genuinely DIDN'T LIKE IT! My siblings used to tell me it was because I was a spoilt brat as I was the youngest ... but it wasn't true ... I really didn't like all the stuff that the others did.
Like I say, I am lucky that my DS likes vegetables and fruit so he has a healthy (if not particularly varied) diet but I do respect that he has 'tastes' and just because he is a child why should he HAVE to eat something he didn't like. Would you choose to eat something you didn't like? No... so why do we try to MAKE them? The only good thing that came out of my mother's strictness with food was that I was able to eat out at people's houses without embarrassing her ...
My husband still says I am picky ... I am not picky ... there are just certain foods I don't like and why the hell should I?
I am strict with DS in that he is not allowed to eat just before dinner etc ... but I am happy to cook the things he likes.
And yes ... we DO go to Macdonald's sometimes ... I don't see anything wrong with it ... as long as it isn't everyday!!!
Sorry a bit of a ramble/rant ... but I just wanted to say that children ARE allowed to have tastes IMHO!!!

Did want to ask a question though ...
At what age do most children start to have meals with their parents? Some of you may think that is a silly question as I do know some families that always eat together ... but that is at 5pm.
I would like us to eat together more often but we only manage it at the weekends mainly because DH hates eating so early. But he likes to eat at 8.30pm ... which, since becoming a mum, is too late for me ...
So ... how many of you would eat all together 'en famille' every night of the week with a 3.5 yr old?? And what time would that be?

We eat together 99% of the time! But we're lucky in that dh works from home. So when he finishes work he's here straight away.We do, however have a "nice" meal on our own about once a month,or a takeaway curry.
I do find it exhausting eating with them sometimes. But it is getting better, they're 3 and 5 1/2 (dds). It's the best time to get out of them what they've done at school etc.

Ghosty, my DH is like yours - wants to eat late. Since he's away most of the time, DD and I eat together around 5pm. I can sometimes persuade him to eat with us but I find it impossible to wait until 8.30pm unless we're going out.

What an interesting thread. My dd and ds have totally different tastes in food and I almost always cook two different dinners as a result. I totally made a rod for my own back when they were younger by giving them too much choice. DS is more adventurous than DD, but they are both capricious when it comes to food. Recently DS (9) has been having salad (lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, grapes) with egg mayonnaise and bread every night. After a couple of weeks of this, he stopped eating the egg mayonnaise, so I started giving him grated cheese or slices of pizza with the salad instead. I'm happy with this because at least he is eating fresh veg every day. DS hates chicken, DD loves it. DS hates McDonalds, DD loves it. DS likes pasta, DD hates it. DD loves potatoes, DS doesn't. I used to like cooking when they were little, but now I absolutely hate it and often (to my shame) resort to convenience food. DD likes chicken nuggets, but I refuse to buy them (I think we're all agreed on this one!) - will have a go at making homemade ones (thanks for the recipe enid), but find marks and sparks breadcrumb coated chicken goujons a good alternative.