Thursday, August 26, 2010

Parenting........and its consequences

Once in a while I may have a thought that I was a fun mom or had a fun idea that my kids loved. Well lately I feel like some of the things I've done have caught up with me...and unfortunately they aren't that great!!

Molly has been a picky eater from the start it seems. Last summer I remember we were having a treat issue...she wanted them all the time and nothing else. Well I took them away and then that pretty much fixed her. But she still to this day only wants to eat a list of like 10 things, which is so frustrating!! We have finally decided to crack down and make her eat what we eat but it has been HARD! It is such a pain and she throws the biggest tantrums. So I guess what I've learned here is to make them eat everything from the start! And don't back down! I thought it would just go away and she would be willing to try new things as time went by, but that's not the case! She won't even try hardly anything!
We are doing better. Tonight I made some pasta and she ate it with saltines! It was a MIRACLE! I kid you not! So we're working on it, but I know it's a slow process!

The other thing we haven't been great at is brushing her teeth. She hated it and would cry every time we tried. So we weren't great at it. Well I decided she should go to the dentist, so we went. And she has a cavity! Of course she does!! (They are going to put her out at a surgical center to get it filled so she won't be traumatized for life!) I was afraid of that. The past two weeks we finally decided we were going to have her do it twice every day, and she finally is ok with it. We printed out a chart and cross it off and she thinks that's pretty fun. We've always bought a cool toothbrush she liked, but that never seemed to do the trick. She still doesn't love it, and she can still be tricky, but she's better.

I'm also getting rid of the juice! We gave it to her a lot, but now I'm limiting it to once a day, if that. I just give her the option of milk or water. And I'm getting rid of most sweets. I think here and there is fine, but I don't want this to be a common thing for her. And it will be better for all of us anyway!

So there you have it! I know you all thought I was a perfect mom (that was a joke!!) but I'm clearly not and I feel like I've gotten a slap on the hand so to speak!

So brush your kid's teeth even if they hate it and it's painful for everyone! Eventually they will have to deal with it! And make them eat everything you do from the beginning!

The end

PS, to make me feel better, please tell me some of your shaming parenting moments!!

7 comments:

Karen said...

We are terrible at brushing teeth...I guess we better start being better! :) HMM...my shameful parenting...still not sure what some of our consequences are! I'm bad with veggies. We are really good with fruit, but I'm bad at offering veggies. Need to be better at that.

Stacie said...

You are SUCH a great mama! I can't believe you could even think of giving yourself a hard time! I think it's just the age, because all my friends with kids Molly's age say the same thing. She is such a cutie, though. And I bet I'll be saying the same here pretty quick. :)

erinmalia said...

don't worry: everyone has their things. mine is i HATE having a baby-proofed house. it killed me to put up a gate on the stairs and i hate having those stupid things on cabinets. but when your child find the blade to the blender and proceeds to cut his hand, you know you have to. :) i still think you're doing a pretty good job!

Wendy said...

I've definitely had bad mom moments. I'm struggling with Eliza's pickiness too. She seriously only likes soy butter sandwiches (thanks to Clara's nut allergy) and pizza as far as main dishes go. And sometimes she won't eat pizza. Seriously, I don't know what to do with her. She has a major texture issue and always has as a baby. She hates the feel of pasta and rice and will go into hysterics if there's a noodle or grain of rice anywhere near her plate. She gags every time Clara eats mac & cheese. Seriously. What kid doesn't like pasta? Oh, and she won't eat any type of white bread, which means she won't take the sacrament. So frustrating!!!

Christine said...

Oh please, you are a fabulous AND fun mom. I think you hit it on the nail to start early with what you want and then it becomes more of a habit. Keep up the good work .

Becky said...

Don't beat yourself up. Seriously! You will always learn things throughout parenthood that you can do better. Plus, it is SO NORMAL for kids to be picky with food, especially at Molly's age (Colt certainly is). Colt is offered what the rest of us are eating for dinner. Often he doesn't want it or will only eat a little, but I don't make it a battle and sometimes he really surprises me by eating something new!! You just have to keep at it. (I was the pickiest of all picky eaters as a kid, and I turned out all right! :) You grow out of it...)

Brooke said...

You Live and Learn, the hard part is sticking to your word. And choose those words carefully, they use them on other kids:)