Since school is out for my children now, I have been involving them more and more in the preparation and making of our meals. One thing I am being reminded of, is the more you involve them in the process, the less resistive they are to new foods and/or Paleo. I let my 14 and 9 year old go through my 3 favorite Paleo cookbooks (Everyday Paleo, Make it Paleo and Paleo Comfort Foods) marking with sticky notes the pages of recipes they would like to try. They ended up filling most of the books with stickies, I then had them narrow it down and each pick a complete meal (next week they can pick another one). And I also asked them to each pick a treat they would like to try making during the week, I haven't seen them that excited over Paleo ever! My 14 year old made Beef Kabobs, Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Watermelon for dinner the other night, YUM! And tomorrow night is my 9 year olds night to cook, although she will still need a bit of help. She chose to make Paleo Pizza, which we made last week also (recipe to follow), this week if the weather cooperates we want to try making Grilled pizzas, one of our favorites! My 9 year old has also been helping with the food prep, and she's been more excited about eating foods she never would have before (mind you she is my pickiest eater ever!). I know it can take more time to involve them, but I really encourage you to get your children in the kitchen with you. Even if it is just involving them in choosing the meals, they feel like they are more a part of it. It is also a wonderful opportunity for one on one time with a child. If your life is busy like mine, sometimes it's hard to slow down and take the time to just listen to them and be with them without being pulled in a million different directions, cooking is a great opportunity to do that. I have also found that having a garden and involving them in the planting and care of it, helps tremendously! My girls love helping with the garden and love eating it's bountiful harvest! Last year they tried lot's of things they had previously turned their noses up at, simply because they had actively participated in growing them!
The other thing I want my children to understand is why we do what we do. Today is Memorial Day, so I took the time to ask the kids this morning (after our Catechism reading) if they knew what Memorial Day was for. That was an interesting discussion, but an important one. It got me to thinking, how many things we do on a day to day basis without really teaching them why, why we celebrate certain holidays (and not others), why we as a family have chosen to eat Paleo, why we are Christians, why we have our children in a small private school, why we grow our own veggies, why exercise and fresh air are important to us, why, why, why.... The list can go on and on, life is full of what I like to call opportunities and to often I forget to slow down and take those opportunities. Which is one of my goals this summer, to really focus on making those "connections" for them and involving them more. I want them to know and understand why we eat the way we eat and do what we do and even how that connects to our faith. I guess it's a little bit like stopping to smell the roses! Life goes by way to quickly to miss those opportunities.
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