At last the blog begins. It’s all about cooking for kids, a brand new journey that I hope you’ll share with me and get real value from, especially if you are feeding little mouths on a daily basis.
So to start with the end in mind I have to ask, how should we measure success for healthy family eating? Is it the amount of nutrients we get the kids to eat, the extent that we avoid the bad stuff, the amount of local organic produce we consume, the speed with which dinner flies onto the table, or reduced levels of whining? Those are all good things, especially the last. But if I had to pick one goal, it’s establishing positive food habits. This is because of math.
Key point: I expect my kids will live outside my home for 2-4 times longer than they live with me, and if we can teach them to appreciate food, make good choices, love vegetables…those habits will carry over into all those years, and even beyond as they influence their own families and friends.
Does my math make sense? Are my numbers right? Or is math part of the Axis of Evil, as Will Ferrell once claimed (in character of course)? What goals matter to you, either for your own kids’ health, or for your own? Please let me know in the comments below.
NOTE: Since parents are busy (don’t I know) my posts will be short. Please don’t be afraid to click in and read.
Congrats on your first post! I’m really looking forward to following your journey 🙂
Mom just started work after 7 years off with the kids. It’s Daddy’s turn to get them fed and off to the world in the mornings. Peter our 7 year old woke me up today and said “Daddy you are going to be late for work.” Not that he cares about my employment, but rather that he knows will get better food for breakfast when I drop him off at Grandmas on my way to work. It is time for culinary illiterate to have a tool for nutrition and taste for their little ones. Without your or Grandmas help, my kids will be raised on a steady diet of Lucky Charms.
Help is on the way my friend. But I’m glad you have a backup plan. 😉
About time, man!
And I agree on the math being preeminent. I know so many adults who have no clue about what makes food good, or what food is good for them. Starting early is key.
Hey Ryan, nice work! I like it so much that I’m trying to share it on FB, but I’m getting an error when I click on the little FB logo. Is it me, or you?
– Chuck
Thanks Chuck – I’m working out the kinks here. I’ve changed some settings, so you should now see a Share button at the bottom of the blog. Can you tell me if it works for you?
Ryan,
I think you are spot on in terms of the “key point.” Although it has recently become a larger part of my daily routine, I think eating healthy and understanding what things to eat and when to eat them is one of the more difficult adjustments I am making “post-college”. No knock on my own parents (getting us to eat enough was always the main focus) but until now, I haven’t eaten particularly well (especially not with dorm food and my ramen noodle tendencies). I think understanding the value of when to eat more and what kinds of proteins and vegetables, etc. and even specific fats is an essential lesson to grow up with.
Definitely agree. I’ve noticed more enthusiasm towards food when I can get them involved in the process of cooking it. My nearly five year old son continues to be a struggle at home, but his teachers say he makes such good food choices at school.
And, congrats on finally getting this running for everyone else.
Glad you’re doing this, Ryan. My kids are all on the other side of the math equation. Whatever we fed them has long since informed their DNA. It’s up to them now. For my part, I think if I’d been involved in the food-making process earlier in my life, I might have been a better cook. Not having the skills or experience to make good food has proven to be an interesting challenge even this late in life. I’ve been learning what good ingredients are, but I have difficulty making them into something really tasty. My blessing is that I can eat almost anything, but we’ve kidded at our house that our weight loss program is “Mark does the cooking.”