What is your goal when providing a meal for your child?

[AlternativeUsername]

Hi all,

I'm a regular member posting under a different username because q a few of you know me and I don't want it to impact on your answers to my question! I'm asking this as a precursor to a piece of work I'm likely to be doing later in the year and just trying to gauge a few parents' opinions. I hope that's ok, but admin please do remove if not.

So, I'm interested in knowing, from as many parents as possible: What is your goal when providing a meal for your child?

Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time to answer!

[montassa]

A bit of an open ended questions.

Our main goal is to make sure its varied, home cooked, fresh and healthy..

whether that's always achieved is another thing entirely - too busy, late back etc.. our main ethos is no processed foods or drinks, lots of fruit and veg and home cooking

[Mariamadeit]

as above but also...

sustenance so they can all get through the next while with enough energy for the activity they are doing

enjoyable family time, we always eat together and discuss the day or recent event

fostering healthy enjoyment of food and good table manners

everyone helps prepare either the food or setting the table and clearing away

[sanity girl]

make something healthy that includes vegetables that my kids will actually eat (goal not always achieved - depends whether sausages/ home made beefburgers/ pizza count as healthy!)

[Sesame]

Our goal is that the meal is healthy, fresh and home-cooked. Also, to cook something that everyone will enjoy as everyone eats the same thing - no special meals. And filling as our son is always hungry. We try to introduce new dishes and ingredients every now and then to add an element of fun and discovery.

[sillywoman]

My goal is to place a balanced meal on the table that will meet their nutritional needs and look appetising to at least 50% of family members. Whether they eat it is up to them...can feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about it...

[AlternativeUsername]

Thank you very much to everyone who has replied - it's all very helpful!

[midivydale]

For me the most important thing is creating family tradition and fond memories as well as a healthy relationship with food.

For example, my husband and son go and get fresh croissants every Saturday morning and we all sit down and eat them with nice coffee etc whilst making a puzzle or playing a game together. It has become a tradition of sorts, which hopefully will help to make fond memories for my son when he grows up. The nutritional value of said breakfast is obviously terrible but I choose to ignore that for the time being. It is only one day a week, and I make sure it goes with plenty of fresh strawberries and blueberries.

Food is something I always feel guilty about if I am honest. We both work long hours and somehow I always seem to fail at the "homecooked" bit. I just do not have time most days. I try to make sure that the food that I do provide is still healthy though. Lots of vegetables and fruit (although due to high sugar content moderate this to a greater extent). Fish fingers may be processed but with added broccoli and cauliflower the overall result I think is acceptable. It has to be because at the moment, that is the best that I can do.

I am lucky that my son is not a fussy eater and he always eats what he is given, veg and all. Our challenges have been allergy related but we seem to be coming out the other side now.

[enjoy]

We eat what l fancy cooking.

Sometime l am lazy and it's pasta/ketchup or fishfingers ...

If I am adventurous it's Ottolenghi.

I personally don't like ready meals, so we have barely processed food on the table.

Meat is not an daily option either.

The kids LOVE raw veggies and all sorts of fruit.

I don't cook extras, if the kids don't like mushrooms they have to take them out or eat plain rice.

I am a fan of a good food, we don't eat rubbish but I don't have a set overall goal.

As l know the kids and we parents have a fairly balanced diet, l am not worried if there are unhealthy meals/days in-between. And we don't count the 'greens' they are eating...

[SLad]

My goal with providing a meal is to give my daughter enough energy to survive to the next meal without snacking and to share time together to decompress and talk about the day. When we have a kitchen (missing in action during renovations for the past 6 weeks) we have home prepared or cooked food at every meal so I only worry about nutritional content when my nanny insists on giving sandwiches every lunch. My daughter has always been a good eater so I don't tend to worry too much about what she has managed to eat at each meal and it delights me no end when she declares she is full and pushes away her plate (a skill I never learned in the age of 'got to eat everything on your plate', to my cost). We always ensure that we have a bit of balance with the occasional treat like a lolly for pud or a lump of cheese to finish so I hope that, in the long term, we're teaching her to have a healthy, non-dependent/obsessive relationship with food. We shall see if we manage it!

[binkylilyput]

Much of the above.

But also COST! Providing something tasty and nutritious within some kind of budget. This includes avoiding any wastage where possible. Which means if there is food that needs using up, it gets used up.

[Anna M]

Nutritious, varied enough that they don't get too stuck in a eating-only-what-they-already-know-they-like rut, (and varied so that they aren't constantly eating only wheat, for example), appealing to adults and kids, or dismantlable so adults can add the adult version and the kids aren't being made a separate meal (chilli, or salsa, or sauce that's suspicious to children) - sometimes we eat dismantled dishes, such as salad nicoise, but all in parts, so each person can help themselves to their own version of the dish and can try new parts in an unpressurised way. Often, at the moment, I am cooking something familiar but adding new elements to constantly push the boundaries of what they deem acceptable!

[snowboarder]

Wow you're all very good! My goal when we get home from after school club at 6.30pm, with homework and dinner and bath to get through, is something very quick and filling that tired children will definitely eat. I have a majorly fussy eldest son with funny food sensory issues and I'm so over having battles with him - in 7 years it has got us nowhere!

[AlternativeUsername]

Thank you all very much again, this has been really helpful. If it comes to anything, I'll be sure to let you all know about it!