Hmmm. . .

So tonight I fixed Sloppy Joes for dinner.  The recipe was from this month's Cooking Light "Almost Meatless Sloppy Joes".  I thought they were quite tasty.  There's a little ground sirloin and a mixture of veggies to round it out.  We had them on Natures Own Multi grain Sandwich rounds which were a nice complement.

But this post is not about our dinner, my quest to cook healthy meals, or random product placements.  No, it's about parenting through dinner time and the tactics we use to get our children to eat what we cook.  I have never insisted on a clean plate, but I do insist that you try everything and are pleasant about it.  No rude comments or faces.  No spitting things out onto your plate.  What I fix is what we're eating and unless you have an allergic reaction or your gag reflex is tested, no substitutions.  For the most part my kids abide by the rules.  A little reverse psychology is used on the toddler set to get them to eat enough to constitute a meal ("Don't you dare eat those beans.  Those are Daddy's beans.  Leave them right there on your plate for him.   Whaaat!  Miller!!  Did you eat dad's beans."  You get the idea)  Tonight Wilson broke just about all the table rules when presented his plate of gourmet cuisine lovingly prepared by his mother.  There was gagging, squinting of the eyes, noises from the throat, "ewww, this is disgusting".  He's past the "don't you dare eat that" stage and frequently implements the tactic himself with his little sister to get his way.  I'm a single parent tonight because Phil is at church teaching the youth guys so I was on my own to get the food down the hatch.  Is it odd that this is the only thing I could think of to get Wilson to eat?

Is it odd that it worked!?