Being a parent means having to answer a lot of questions, like ?Are we there yet"?, ?Ugh, do I have to"” and ?But why can?t I put the cat in the dryer"? Still, the one that makes me clench with irritation the most is, ?What?s for dinner"?
A lot of parents struggle to feed their kids. Picky eaters, snackers, grazers, only-eat-one-food-groupers?kids don?t make it easy on us. Weekday morning and after-work stress doesn?t help either?it can often feel like it?s literally just not possible to make a quick nutritious family meal, whether it be breakfast or dinner, from scratch.
But is it possible we feel that way because the idea has been sold to us" In the modern world of ?busy,? I argue that an entire industry has tricked vulnerable, time-crunched adults into thinking they can?t prepare nutritious food for their kids, because it takes too long. This is not a guilt trip. Parents, you are doing amazing things. You are juggling jobs and households while keeping small humans alive?and sometimes pets and grandparents, too! Most of us have caught ourselves reaching for the toaster waffle or the pizza pop. I?m only one person, we think. I can?t be all the things, and today, this is gonna have to do. The problem begins when we start to use the cheats so often that we don?t even notice it?s become our status quo. And if there weren?t growing rates of childhood diabetes and obesity, or if we didn?t know that our kids? outcomes are better when they consume b...