I want my children to eat healthy. I am the one in our house who cooks every day and I also do the shopping. So I largely determine what we eat. But the term 'largely' is very disappointing in practice. In practice, it appears that the food at home is no longer determined by everything you used to 'before'.
Table of Contents
Of course you can still partly control it at home, but getting your children to eat healthy becomes more and more difficult as they get older. Yes, they eat more. But adolescents especially need unhealthy food. And snacks.
And what they buy in the cafeteria at school, you have no influence on that. I don't anyway. Because even if the lunchbox comes home full, I can swear they weren't hungry. All kinds of delicacies are available in the canteen at school. There is nothing not healthy food for your children at school. No, chicken satay, a sausage roll, a satay roll and a frikandel roll are sold there. The latter are inedible according to my son, which means that he has tried them at least once.
There is also autodrop and lollipops and other sweets for sale. And if you think your kids are eating healthy during their weekend job… I'll help you out of your dream. What they eat when they are working at their weekend job, that is not Brussels sprouts and that is not chicory.
My eldest works in the local cafeteria and the youngest in a restaurant. I don't think they choose a brown sandwich with cheese over a croquette or frikandel sandwich, with fries. Temptations are, of course, lurking. And they can withstand everything, those teenagers of mine, except the temptations.
Tip:do you want your teenager to eat healthy and no grumbling? Try this taco recipe!
The consequence of putting a healthy meal on the table may be grumbling adolescents who eat with long teeth. Or actually before that. “Mom, what are we eating today?” Hussen with your nose in between," I answer, meant to be funny. “Yeah funny, what are we really eating?” “Elephant heads.” I'll just try again. “Mom, act normal, what are we eating?” “Broccoli,” I finally say. "Gadverdamme, I thought so, it stinks in here." I take a deep breath over my cooking pots. My work won't be rewarded tonight, I'm afraid. No, healthy eating does not happen automatically with adolescents. “Dinner is ready, are you coming to whine?”
Below are two buyers that you can implement in the hope that your children will continue to eat healthy.
In the context of conscious learning to deal with food, I only proposed to my adolescents to cook for themselves one day a week. Okay, okay, let's be honest, I mainly made the proposal because I think it would be great to be able to sit down once a week. I think that's what I've missed most from the moment I left my parental home. The fact that I could join every night.
In addition, my mother cooks much better than I can do it myself. When I make kale, I calculate the comment; Grandma's is much tastier, always in. But it's not just grandma's kale that is tastier. Beef, pancakes and leeks are also a thousand times better when my mother prepares them. A fair conclusion from my children. Anyway.
My children's reaction to my proposal was not very positive. The eldest:“Oh, that's fine, I'll do it on Sunday, can you get some fries from me. And I even bake a snack for you. Fine right?” The youngest was not entirely negative, maybe I can make a deal with him.
I try to set a good example. So don't open a bag of chips every night. I don't drink alcohol (don't like it!) and eat fruit and vegetables every day. I always had the idea that this didn't have much influence on the eating behavior of my adolescents. But yesterday the youngest said; “Mama, you eat bread with cheese and lettuce, shall I take that too?” I fall off my chair, hoping that one day my teenagers will be okay. Except when it comes to drinking alcohol with my teenagers. I am afraid that they will certainly not follow my example.
