Thursday, April 11, 2013

Experiment Part #2 - How I Got My Toddler to Eat (and Like) Green Onions

As many of you know, I went on a mission a few weeks ago to cure my kids of the following bad habits:

1.  Refusing to try new stuff that I went to all the trouble to make (which really irritated me since I had to referee fights and try to keep them alive while I cooked this "new" meal).
2.  Uttering the phrase, "Mommy I'm hungry" every fifteen minutes, all day long, even after we just ate breakfast three minutes prior
3.  Not eating enough vegetables

So, in my last post about this, I revealed how I got my daughter to start helping me cook and how it totally changed the evening.  Instead of feeling like I was fighting a battle while I cooked dinner, I actually enjoyed it.  My daughter did too, and she even was more adventurous with trying the meal since she had helped me make it.

Next, I decided to tackle the fruits and vegetables issue.  Again, I was truly amazed at the results.  This picture says it all:


This is a photo of my three year old, eating and enjoying green onions.  Here is how it happened.  I was letting them help me make dinner and green onions were part of the recipe.  My little guy asked if he could try them.  My initial reaction was to say, "No, you won't like those, just hand them over."

But then I took a step back and remembered what the book taught me.  It's all about the process.  So, I said, "Sure, go ahead!"  I was amazed when he said, "Mommy, these are good!"

He proceeded to eat the ENTIRE stalk of green onions.  And this is a kid who doesn't even like carrots.  Now all of a sudden he like raw green onions???

Next, the Edamame was finished and again the kids asked if they could try it.  I had intended to save it for dinner, but again I told them it was okay and I looked over a couple minutes later and saw Big Sis popping those edamame out of their shells and handing them to her little brother and even feeding him like he was a little hungry birdie.


Lastly, Little Buddy did the dishes for me (Yes, I had to change his shirt because he got himself a little wet, but I still appreciated his help all the same)


This "cooking project" has been going on for over a month now and the kids haven't lost interest yet.  I believe there are a few reasons that my experiments have worked so well:

1.  They get to stand on their own stools during the entire process
2.  I have been very willing to let them do things I wouldn't normally do (like peeling carrots by themselves...normally I would have thought that was way too sharp of an object, but I supervised carefully and they totally proved me wrong)
3.  I made it fun...fun for them AND fun for me!

My last Experiment will be to update you on how I eliminated snacking...stay tuned!!

PS...thanks to all of you who bought my book while it was on sale this week...I'm proud to say that we got up to #1 in the Parenting Category and Susan and I were thrilled!

Posted by at 5:05 AM 2 comments

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Sale! $0.99 for The Happy Mommy Handbook through April 9th!

For the first time ever, The Happy Mommy Handbook is on sale!  $0.99 (Instead of the normal price of $3.99) for 2 days now being offered through April 9th. You can purchase the ebook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo.

If you have been enjoying my blog, you'll love this book.  We will inspire you to have more fun with your daily life with your kids.  Yes, it's tough to stay patient with little kids, but I teamed up with Kindergarten Teacher, Susan Case, to give you ideas on how to keep your kids busy and also help them learn at the same time!  Here is a book review that really explains it all:

"This book seriously saved my sanity. I've read a bunch of parenting books but this is literally the only one that actually gave me real and specific advice and ideas for things to do with my daughter. I'm a stay-at-home mom to a 2-year old and I was at my wits end trying to come up with ideas of fun, easy, creative things to do with her that will keep her busy and occupied and help her learn. I wasn't very good at following through on ideas that I heard about from friends or read in other books or online because they seemed too complicated (aka: messy!) but this book broke it down and made it so simple. I highly recommend it!"



I hope you'll check out this book...I would really appreciate your support and don't forget if you've read it, we can really use all the good book reviews we can get on Amazon and B&N!  
Posted by at 7:01 PM 0 comments
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