My solution? Sit down with my kids and make a menu for the month of March. Solves two issues in one: 1)No more complaining about dinner because they helped pick it out and 2) No scrambling at the last minute to figure out what to make or answering the “What’s for dinner?” question. The calendar is hanging on the fridge, they can find out for themselves what we’re going to eat.

Of course, the meal planning required a bit of guidance on my part. If it were up to the kids, we’d be eating chicken nuggets, hot dogs, mac ‘n’ cheese, pizza, or fruit salad for every meal. It was fun to be able to encourage them to think of their favorite veggies and fruits, and to have them feel like they had a part in this area of planning for the family. The planning also helps us to be more frugal at the grocery store, since we know exactly the dishes for which we are buying ingredients.

Next time, I’ll go through the extra effort of grabbing one of the kids’ cookbooks and making sure that there are plenty of meals coming up that the kids can help make. They love helping out with meals, and then I’m not trying to cook while also running interference on playtime from the next room.

Post from: Play Library