Check Me Out - I'm Guest Blogging...

Over at Cribsheet at the Star Tribune...Thanks May and Kay for the opportunity...and for having faith in me that someone actually wants to read what I have to say!!
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Before I became a parent, I had a lot of ideas in my head. Thoughts of what I would and would not do when I became a parent. I’d see those OTHER parents out (you know the ones!) and about and say to myself - “That will never be me!!” One of the biggest “Oh no, not me I will NEVER EVER…” issues I’m battling happens during mealtime at our house.
I swore I would never be a “restaurant” for our kids. I spent half my life working in restaurants - I wasn’t going to be serving up a different meal for every person in our house, especially when I was the one making it!! At least that’s what I thought, before I had a toddler.Introducing solids to our little girl was a cake walk - she’d not only try it she’d eat the whole jar of whatever it was on the menu for that day - (well, except Apricots - she hated those.)That little girl just turned three and she is very selective in what she eats. I find myself making a meal for dinner for the family - and then something for her that I know she will eat. Typically PB&J, Mac n Cheese, Grilled Cheese or some form of Chicken Nugget/Chicken Fries.I do still put on her plate a bite or two of what her Dad and I are eating - which her little brother who is almost two will typically at least try, but she refuses…and then follows that up with -“I can’t eat that - it makes me cough.” A step up from her telling me it would make her throw up which is what she used to do! We’ve gone the bribery route - begging her to try just one bite - I have tried the “This is all you get til morning and you’ll go hungry” approach - and she honestly would prefer to go hungry - and has…Sometimes she makes it through the night - other nights I’m lying next to her as her tummy is growling and she’s crying. How do you not give in to that and let her have PB&J sans crust yet again? Even harder yet is that both of our kids barely register under 5% on the growth charts for weights! I try not to get too wrapped up in the percentiles but I’d love for them to register on the chart at least!!
I once told a friend that I had visions of sitting down at the table eating as a family every night and was very disappointed that I was failing and she reminded me that we could still sit at the table as a family and eat, even if we were not all eating the same thing.
She’s right, and we have since started doing just that…but I wonder - how DO you get these little ones to eat without making them go hungry?