One small step for Sam, one giant leap for our family

We've been working with Sam for years on getting him to eat his veggies. He ate them just fine as a baby, but refused as a toddler. I was not good at offering a veggie at every meal because I was lazy, didn't feel like preparing something that he wasn't going to eat, it was difficult to keep fresh fruits in veggies in the house on a super tight budget. I could go on and on, but the point is that once I decided that this was a priority for our family, we've seen slow and steady progress.

It became a rule that he had to eat a veggie at dinner. Then we started including lunch. I ignored the experts who said that it's not good to elevate sweet foods to a higher level and use them as bribes. In our house they are privileges - one you don't earn unless you've eaten your veggie.

We had some pretty big battles about this, but sticking by our guns has paid off. He knows he has to eat a veggie and often tells us which one he wants. We've come a long way from the nights he would sit at the table for up to two hours with five small pieces of chicken and one veggie. I got sick of him not eating dinner and then waking up starving and then filling up on carb loaded breakfasts. We put an end to that and, again, went against the experts and require him to finish all of his dinner before he gets a treat. Before you leave me comments saying that he'll develop food issues as an adult if I make him finish all his food, let me say that he doesn't have to eat THAT much. The kid's dinners are often served in 1 cup Pampered Chef prep bowls. His is never more than half full. I don't think requiring a 4 year old to eat half a cup of food at a meal is too much.

In the last month meal time has become a joyful time for our family.

I still can't believe I can write that. It has been a long road. One we walked one step at a time.
We are laughing and talking instead of listening to Sam whine for hours. He prefers lettuce or green peppers but will eat tomato, carrots, celery, potatoes.

This is where we were a couple weeks ago.

Now I can plop two full slices of pepper on his plate and he eats them right up. Make that TWO steps for our Sammy Sam!