Polls and Tips for Family Life

I like to spread out the distribution of any new activities or road trip toys over the course of the trip, and find that my kids enjoy them longer this way. If they start the trip with unlimited access to all of the new stuff, they blow through it pretty quickly and there's not as much to look forward to.

During a gas station break, we always let the kids pick out a special snack or two to enjoy in the car. They love getting the freedom to pick whatever they want.

Try making "build your own" meals. Put out a bunch of components and let each person pick and choose what they want. You're only making one meal, but it's customized for each person. We do build your own salads (greens and veggies, beans, chicken, cheese, croutons) or rice bowls (protein, rice, cheese, salsa, avocado, beans, mango) and these go over really well with my kids and their different food preferences. Picky eaters can enjoy their dinner "deconstructed" if they don't want their food touching.

There are a handful of meals that our picky eaters will eat pretty consistently, so we always plan to make 2-3 of those in a week, so we know they will eat something. Making enough to have leftovers is helpful, too (if your picky eater will eat leftovers!), so they have another option when they inevitably refuse to eat some of our other meals.

My husband and I try to plan 3-4 meals for the coming week before the weekend is out, so we can make a plan for grocery shopping and actually cooking. We often invite the kids to each pick one meal for the week as well - they tend to eat it better when they've been involved in the planning in some way!

We have a binder of "greatest hits" recipes that we use almost exclusively for our family dinner rotation. My weekly meal planning involves picking recipes from the binder each weekend to meal plan for the week ahead, and I go to the grocery store once. I just have too many new recipe failures to bother wasting my time with trial and error on our busy weeknights. I'd rather cook something tried and true, and my kids would much rather eat something they already know they love. On the rare occasion that I cook something new and the family loves it, it gets printed out and added to the binder.

Pepperoni is our go-to and probably the ultimate kid-friendly pizza topping. I haven't met many kids who don't like it!

Pineapple and bacon is well-loved in our house. I know this is controversial, but try before you deny!

When they’re young, I think letting kids play a little bit or walk around before the food arrives helps them sit more calmly in the high chair when it’s time to eat. Of course, feeling comfortable letting them play is a challenge! So even though we don’t typically eat early meals, sometimes going to a restaurant earlier in the evening or lunch time avoids the rush. I think just having a little extra space with fewer people can make the entire experience calmer and totally worth the off hours!

I find that my kids tend to eat more if they control what they order (within reason of course). I have them read through the menu, decide what they're indeed craving, and take part in ordering.