It took me years to figure out how to make feeding kids a LOT less stressful—and these are some things I wish I’d known when I started. (Also! Zooming out on their intake to look at a whole week rather than any one meal or snack helps so much too. It’s always more balanced through that lens!) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ And I will say right up front that it’s not that I don’t care about nutrition (I do) or that our meals are perfect (they’re not)—it’s just that meals are WAY more fun in our house when we’re not tracking nutrients. When I’m not as stressed by cooking. And that opportunity for JOY matters so much. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I included as much of this perspective both from my own lived experience and from trusted experts in my new cookbook Dinnertime SOS, which is available to order everywhere books are sold. I know that there’s a lot going on when we’re cooking and so much isn’t even about the food at all. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 1. Kids may eat air for dinner one night and multiple servings the next. Both can be very normal. 2. Fruit has many of the same nutrients as veggies and is the easiest side dish.I don’t have to cook dinner every night , I can just put foods on a plate and make my life a little easier. 3. It’s okay to mostly rely on the same tried and true family meals and have smaller bursts of variety. 4. I am much less anxious when I trust my kids appetites rather than counting grams of nutrients on their plates. 5. I don’t have to cook dinner every night. I can just assemble foods on a plate. 6 What works for one family may not work for another, but that doesn’t mean we’re doing anything wrong. (A note to compare less.) 6. It’s important that the kids see be eating food I love so they can do the same as they grow. 7. The more I focus on my kids, instead of what they are or are not eating, the more we can laugh and connect. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #parenting #toddlers