Grandpa Richards Kids

This is the 3rd time I have titled an article using the word “picky”. The facts are there to support it, though. Many of our children are picky eaters. (not at all like Grandpa Richard, who eats practically anything, except spicy stuff!)

I also wrote about using smoothies to get some fresh fruit and vegetables into your children. It is true that most children don’t like to eat vegetables especially. How can parents get them to eat the food that is so good for them? Here are some additional ideas:

1. Healthy breakfast - fill your kids up on their fruit for the day at breakfast.
a. banana on toast, maybe with peanut butter;
b. cereal with fresh or dried fruit;
c. pancakes or waffles with fruit toppings;
d. fresh fruit smoothies and a yogurt and sliced fruit combo.

2. Hide vegetables in a sauce.
a. Grate and chop zucchini, carrots and spinach into pasta and cheese sauces;
b. puree mushrooms before putting them into spaghetti sauce to avoid kids seeing them and picking them out.

3. Add to dessert
a. Add fresh fruit pieces to Jello, yogurt or ice cream for a healthy treat;
b. puree fruit to use as homemade topping in place of chocolate or caramel syrup;
c. let your kids make their own fruit parfaits.

4. Put vegetables into the meat;
a. grate vegetables in meat dishes;
b. hide grated vegetables in meatball, casseroles, meatloaf, shepherd’s pie and lasagna;
c. try an all-vegetable lasagna;
d. make all-vegetable “hamburger” patties.

5. One pot, many vegetables
a. Making homemade soups stews and chili are all easy ways to increase your family’s intake of vegetables and fruit (yes, fruit!) Everything and anything healthy should go into the pot. Puree vegetables that the kids don’t like and add them to the stock to use as a thickener.
b. Make gazpacho, a fruit soup using mangos, yellow pepper, yellow tomatoes, carrot, cantaloupe, cucumbers, papayas, raspberry vinegar, honey and vanilla extract.

6. Mystery foods
a. Use the kids’ favorite cookies, cakes and breads as a cover for fruits and vegetables. Make sweet breads and desserts with vegetables - zucchini bread, sweet potato pie and pumpkin pie.
b. Slip fruits and vegetables in all kinds of things: applesauce in cookies, zucchini in chocolate cake, and grated carrots in pasta sauce.

7. Fast and healthy food
a. Homemade pizza. Give the kids tons of healthy toppings to choose from such as tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, spinach and pineapple. Let them make their own pizza.
b. Tacos or fajitas can be a great way to get kids to add vegetables in various forms - diced tomatoes, salsa, etc.
c. Stir fries - sugar peas, snow peas, spinach and carrots.
d. Omelets - salsa, tomatoes.

8. Keep fruit and vegetables handy
a. Keep washed fruit in a bowl nearby;
b. Have ready-to-serve individual fruit cups in the fridge;
c. make up vegetable-and-dip packs for snacks;
d. serve fruit and vegetables as a side dish at meals.

If at least some of the items on this list don’t work, try making their food more interesting - like shapes out of vegetables - trees, animals, houses - and let your kids pretend to be King Kong eating his surroundings.

Do you have ideas that work? Please let me know via the comment box that you get when you click on the link just under the title of this post.

My granddaughter Jasmine told me the other day that she really likes the milkshakes that her mom makes. I was curious and decided to see what these milkshakes are all about. It turns out that what we are really talking about are fruit smoothies.

That brought up a really important question. Do you know how nutritious a fruit smoothie can be?

If you are an average parent, you have discovered that if a particular food item is very healthy and great for us, our children quickly learn to dislike it. The challenge then becomes, “How can I get my kids to eat more healthy stuff?”

Smoothies can be the answer. Most children love these drinks. And for the real die-hard kids, we can add just a bit of “bad” food and the children will surely come over to the good side! If you have never made a smoothie, it is easy. Just prepare the food as if you were going to eat it raw, put it in a blender, add some extra liquid, and blend away.

One big advantage to smoothies is that it is easy to pick ingredients that give the result an appropriate colour. Young boys are often fascinated by gross looking objects, and some of the smoothies that I make myself sure do look the part. Girls, on the other hand, might like pastel shades, and you can do that as well.

Another advantage to fruit smoothies is that they travel well. Make sure their consistency is right (add more water or milk if necessary) and put them in travel safe drinking containers. Then either just take as is or add them to your picnic cooler so they are still cool when you bring them out. They may be just right for you as well while watching the kid’s soccer game.

Advantage number three is the ability to sneak in some powdered supplements that your doctor may have recommended.

Here are several simple examples.

• 1-1/2 cups frozen strawberries
• 1 cup frozen unsweetened pineapple chunks
• 1 cup low-fat vanilla soy milk
• 2 tsp. honey
• 1/2 cup non-fat vanilla yogurt or vanilla soy yogurt

You could also use regular pineapple and skip the honey.

Here is another.

• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 cup frozen pineapple chunks
• 1 cup low-fat vanilla soy milk
• 1 Tbsp. frozen lemonade concentrate
• 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

Note: Although these recipes use milk, you can (and should) experiment with adding water instead of milk. The presence of a protein source (the milk) slows digestion and can lead to more gas, and we don’t want that!

You can also add spinach leaves into a fruit smoothie and still get an amazing taste! Experiment by using leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, chard, and celery. These green smoothies are the ones the boys should like, as the colours are not appealing looking to adults. Get creative and come up with interesting names like Alien Juice, or Swamp Slime.

Enjoy.

Space, that is, lack of it.

See my commentary at the Grandpa Richard Speaks website.

Maybe it is because your mom breastfed you.

A new study shows that breastfed children are, on average, 3 to 5 IQ points smarter than children who are fed formula. More at health.come-and-read.com. As well, you may want to view the video I made about this fact.

Back when my first born arrived (30+ years ago!), cloth diapers were the norm, while disposables were a luxury item. My wife even took the time to custom make hourglass shaped cloth diapers. No folding, as they fit perfectly as is. Today, disposables are the norm and people using cloth diapers for their babies are considered to be strange.

I was reminded of this topic the other day at work when a co-worker mentioned that he and his wife were planning on using cloth diapers when their first born arrives in several months. I had not thought about cloth diapers in years, thinking they were extinct.

Here are three (3) reasons that modern parents may choose to utilize cloth diapers instead of disposables.

(1) Affordability

The biggest personal reason that a mother may choose to clothe her baby’s bottom in cloth diapers as opposed to Pampers or Huggies is financial. Cloth diapers are simply cheaper than disposables, even if the parents are paying a diaper service to haul away the soiled nappies and bring fresh ones each week. In most cases the makers of disposables would win over a number of holdout customers if they could figure out a way to make their products cheaper.

(2) Environmental Concerns

Disposable diapers are made primarily of plastic surrounding a pad of absorbent cotton. It is well known that plastic doesn’t biodegrade very well at all, which means that our landfills are stacked with diapers that are going to be with us for centuries to come. While many people believe that the convenience offered by disposable diapers outweighs this fact, environmentalists believe that by using cloth diapers they are just doing one more thing to help to protect and preserve the Earth for future generations.

(3) Modern Developments

Those argumentative parents and grandparents may still have a thing or two to say to the modern parents who do choose to use cloth diapers. The cloth diapers of today are very different from the ones that they were using on their kids and grandkids way back when. Gone are the days of complicated folding methods and misplaced safety pins. Today’s cloth diapers are pre cut and shaped to cover baby’s nether regions quickly and easily. They also come with Velcro fasteners or snaps for ease in fastening. Best of all, many now have available a flushable, biodegradable paper lining that will catch solid waste, allowing it to be easily disposed of in the toilet so soiled and smelly diapers don’t sit around and there is no messy job of rinsing the solids away.

Try Them

Cloth diapers are, in many ways, a thing of the past, but they are by no means gone forever. For the parent with financial or environmental concerns they are still a very viable option for clothing the bottoms of their babies. Be one of a small but growing group that are helping make cloth diapers the way to go.

p.s. thank you for inspiring this article Camron.

I find that it is always interesting to observe my grandchildren, especially when they were pre-schoolers. Almost everything for them is a wonderful new experience and usually makes them smile ear to ear. My grandchildren are like a fresh start for me.

Grandparenting offers many of the joys and benefits of parenting, without many of the hassles, constraints, and day-to-day responsibilities. Don’t you find that your grandchildren are one of God’s greatest gifts? But there’s more to having grandchildren–that is, being a grandparent–than simply keeping track of them, which is hard enough.

TEACH

Take the opportunity to teach them healthy habits. The best time to start these lessons is when your grandchildren are young, before bad habits have a chance to form. One habit that I taught Jasmine is to always return things to their rightful place. If we don’t, I explained, then we might lose the item. Although she does not always practice this habit, she knows it in theory.

One day I was unable to find something I needed. Jasmine asked me what I was doing. When I explained, she stated, “Did you put it back Grandpa?”

Ouch!

TALK

Talk to your grandchildren about things, every day things. It is amazing the types of comments I get from Jasmine when I ask her questions. She can come up with some very interesting insight.

TELL

Tell your grandchildren stories. Not just from books. Jasmine even asked me one day to tell her stories about her mom. Now that was an interesting topic! As a grandparent you have a wealth of stories in you. Make them interesting and your grandchildren will ask for more.

BEFORE YOU GO

One last random comment. Keep a camera close at hand. You never know when your grandchild might do something interesting, and getting a photo helps that moment last a lifetime.

You have taken the test, watched the window for the two little lines and celebrated the news that you are expecting a little one. Now you want to share that news in a way that is as creative and special as possible. So no matter if you tell everyone right away or wait awhile here are some ideas on how to make your announcement.

• Humour
• Holidays
• Gifts

For more details, read the full article at We’re Pregnant - 3 Ways Of Sharing the News.

p.s. The article was edited and personalized by my daughter Stephanie, who is 7 months pregnant as I type this blog entry. Leave her some encouraging comments!

Here is an idea.

Take a slinky to the mall and get it going on an escalator.

All parents worry about their children. Are you worried that your introverted child is not normal? You need to read the article about introverted children found at the article Introverted Children are Normal on Grandpa Richard’s main website. Keep in mind that despite all your fears, introverted children may be that way naturally.

My eldest daughter, Stephanie, is expecting her 2nd child in late June. Her first pregnancy went well, but, there have been some problems with this one and she is now at home (off work and on light duties) on doctor’s orders. She has a very high risk of having a premature birth. This came up quite suddenly, but I am working on getting out to see her. I am having issues with work though, as year end is a week away and I don’t have a proper backup person for my role.

What is interesting is that when this first started, her and her mom searched the internet and found very little info about her particular issues. I have discussed with her the possibility of starting a blog and sharing, so that others like her will find some better advice and encouragements during a very stressful time. I’ll let you know if we do start something.

In the meantime, if you are looking for info on fertility issues, check out fertility.come-and-read.com.