Before I had children I didn't realise there was some unwritten rule that "good" mothers home cook every single meal their kids eat from the time they're old enough for solids. I didn't know I had to spend hours cooking, blending and freezing little cubes of pureed goodness for my baby.I certainly didn't expect my first daughter to prefer commercial food to my painstakingly prepared cuisine. But she did.
I bought a handful of "baby and toddler meal" cookbooks and would spend eons preparing dishes I felt sure she would adore...only to have them to spat back at me sooner than you can say "drop cloth". With much guilt I'd resort once again to the old faithful jars.
Each Mothers' Group I would turn up, ready-meal in my carry all, only to be confronted by other mums sporting wonderfully delicious-looking home concoctions...and that guilt would grow. I persisted in trying new recipes, to absolutely no avail...I had failed.
Eventually, I realised it didn't make a scrap of difference. At nearly three, Olivia is thriving and in good health, and still eats a McCain Healthy Choice meal sooner than my creations (there's no accounting for taste). So, with Sophia, I'm just not going to put myself though the torture.
I have a cupboard full of Rafferty's Garden products (pictured above) which Sophia and I agree are yummy. They're shelf stable, are made of completely natural ingredients, and come in enough varieties for neither of us to get bored in a hurry.
So, I'm done with Mother Guilt when it comes to food...I'm letting Rafferty do the hard work for me (he's doing a far better job than I ever could!)
What gives you Mother Guilt?
5 comments:
My thinking has been that Rafferty's Garden doesn't count as it is not in a jar! Both my babes love that line.
Letting her watch too much TV. I recently heard an academic on the ABC say that TV is of no value whatsoever for a child under two. Suffice to say that hearng that didn't help. E loooooves the teev, could watch it all day. Even ads!
Noah loved Baby Boost see boostfoods.com which at Coles is kept near the baby yogurt. It was rated one of the highest baby foods in Choice and contains no thickening agents etc. He really loved the sweet potato and broccoli. As he got older I would boil pasta or rice and mix it in or just use the next stage up. That was his 'takeaway' :)
Liv did too, Shon...her faves were the red lentils and the italian lasagne (she'd absolutely inhale it either on its own or with pasta or mash)
I think I definitely rely on the TV too much. It really calms my two year old down when she's over tired and painful around witching hour, or when she wakes up grumpy from her afternoon sleep. I am at the stage where I just do whatever works, but there's a part of me that still feels a bit bad-mothery about it.
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