My Kids and Dinner

Dinner in my house is a quiet affair.  There's no food struggles - I put the food in front of them and leave them alone.  Most nights, their plates are returned empty, while some nights, the protein comes back barely touched.  I try not to stress about it.  If they eat, they eat - if they don't, they don't.  They're the ones going to bed hungry, not me, right?

Of course, we all know I don't like wasted food.  So, I did some experimenting and found out a few things about my kids and dinner:

1. Late dinners = peaceful nights - I've been slowly moving their dinnertime later and later as an experiment to see if a late dinner would make bedtime easier.  Well, it didn't quite fix our bedtime issues..but they are better behaved during that chaotic time after dinner when everyone's tired.  
2. My kids would be happy if I made hamburger patties every night for them.  Those plates always come back clean as a whistle. (That's not going to happen anytime soon but they can dream!)
3. They don't like anything mixed in with their protein.  If I'm fixing chicken and cabbage with butter sauce for dinner, I make the chicken and sauce first and then pull their chicken out of the pan before I add my cabbage.
4. Broccoli goes down my kids' throats easier with lots of butter and pepper.  Yum!
5. Fried potatoes are the elixir of happiness for my kids.  Though they're not "paleo", we still eat potatoes every once in a while, fried hard in a lot of saturated fats so they're like little cubed french fries.  Yeah, I spoil them...

So, moms and dads out there - don't be afraid to experiment!  You have your own likes and dislikes and so do your kids.  With some experimentation, you might find a way to get them to eat their meat and vegetables too!