If your kids haven't seen Captain Carlos on Playhouse Disney, they are missing out on a nutritious treat! This is a short cartoon that comes on between main shows, and Aaron always pays rapt attention. The show usually has Carlos getting ready to go to an activity--school, karate class, soccer game--and he needs to fuel up before he leaves. He has a healthy snack in mind, but his sister suggests junk food instead. The narrator tells what will happen if Carlos chooses the junk food, so he always chooses the healthy food!
Watching this has Aaron saying such phrases as "Mom, that's loaded with sugar!" or "I want a healfy snack." A couple of days ago Captain Carlos chose spinach salad, and I just happened to have a spinach/spring mix in the fridge. For lunch I was having a nice salad with Craisins, salad crunchies (nuts and other stuff), croutons, and Raspberry Vinaigrette. Aaron wanted some (minus the Vinaigrette!) and he actually ate the leaves!! Since then he's requested spinach salad two more times, and who am I to deny him?
Last night I also made fried squash, one of my favorites! (Mmmm...greasy perfection!)
Aaron calls them fried pickles (pickles are one of his favorite foods!) and he gobbles them up. Since he was eating them, Claire wanted some too, and she dipped them in Ranch dressing. She probably ate 6 or more last night! Granted this isn't the most healthy veggie, with all that grease, but it counts in my book! (They do eat mostly healthy veggies, including green beans, sweet potatoes, broccoli, peas, carrots, and corn.)
Aaron also loves fried okra. I'll never forget our trip to St Louis before Claire was born. Aaron was almost two. We stopped in Sikeston, MO at Lamberts, and they were bringing fried okra around to the tables. Aaron ate so much okra I thought he was going to bust! He is truly a southern boy!
Last night I told Chris that watching my kids eat veggies makes me feel like I am doing just a little something right. My philosophy is to keep putting it on their plate, and bribe them to take bites. ("Take one bite of that and you can have another grape!") Once they get used to taking bites, they start doing it without the bribe, and eventually like the food!
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1 comment:
Captain Carlos is great! My youngest is two and I've already noticed that she tunes in when he's on. The other two daughters are a bit past this stage....18 & 15. ;)
Fried squash and okra count for me, too!
Rena Gunther
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