I HOPE YOU ARE all enjoying the EXCITEMENT and ‘NRG’! of the wonderful RAW PIONEERS whose stories and articles we have been sharing with you lately!  These people are doing it for real!  I am sure they have had their share of criticism and obstacles to deal with personally, yet it doesn’t stop them.  This is good news for all of us who can feed off their beautiful INSPIRATION to nurture our own RAW LIFE.  And dear Readers, YOU are also invited to share YOUR inspiring stories, or questions, comments. It’s so good to be able to INTERACT all together however we can.

Ok, TODAY I wanted to share some great TIPS for those who have written to express your frustrations with ‘fussy’ ‘picky’ ‘finicky’ eaters!  Oh, some kids can really strike fear in our hearts at mealtimes…some won’t eat ‘anything GREEN’ some won’t touch ‘anything RAW’…some call it TOXIC- WHOA!  Well, we’ll see about that!  ‘BRING IT ON’ I say!  The FORCE IS WITH US MOMS who care enough to be insisting on ‘green and raw’ over ‘mac and cheese’! haha!

So, here are some turbo-charged, BIG GUNS for the really serious cases:

#1  BRIBERY CAN BE YOUR MOST EFFECTIVE TOOL.

If your kids are above the age of 5, then BRIBERY is a good tool to have in your toolbelt at all times! Hahaha! Kids all have special things they treasure…so capitalize on this and barter, 3 bites here  = more time at the park, or gold stars/tickets that add up the end of the month and can be redeemed for a PRIZE (toy, movie, outing, etc., whatever would truly be motivating to YOUR child).  GET THEIR ATTENTION and use it to your/their advantage by making healthy choices around their food intake.  Keep it FUN, LIGHT and EMPOWERING.  Everyone can win here!

And for goodness sake, set yourselves up for success by offering tasty and healthy raw TREATS over serious green slimy things…especially at the beginning, tempt your family with quick raw fudge or fruit salads or macaroon balls or mini-pizzas that THEY HELP make sprinkling their OWN favourite toppings that they HELPED cut up with you…Go through recipe books and find simple, quick, FUN and KID-FRIENDLY foods to keep on hand.  My book RAWMOM/COOKED DAD will be LOADED with just the right things to try- available SOON!

#2   KEEP A LOOOOONG TERM APPROACH IN MIND.

If you can get your kids to try and like even ONE raw food a MONTH, at the end of a year that is a substantial gain!  Especially when you realize that studies show most people eat the same 14 foods over and over again!  The name of the game in sales is ’show, show, show’ just keep showing the customer options, and sooner or later they WILL CHOOSE SOMETHING!   When your kids start their usual groaning, do NOT get ‘fatalistic’ about and feel like it just will NEVER work–YOU must, MUST hold that space inside of you that your family will come around, sooner or later…  Do not give up on them.

When kids are teens, play a game with them ‘Who can spot the healthy person’ when out in public.  Notice people’s POSTURE, DEMEANOR, ATTITUDE, SKIN and overall VITALITY.  ASK YOUR KIDS: HOW DO they want to look AND feel?  Correlate how food choices affect all these things. Never JUDGE or be mean- simply stay NEUTRAL like a scientist OBSERVING…when my boys tell me of the behaviours of certain friends in class who cannot concentrate, or whom get into trouble and cause disturbances, I ask them what that classmate has for lunch and snack every day.  When they tell me the horror-story of ‘pop, chips, candy bars, etc.’ I ask them to just try and IMAGINE how that poor kid must feel with all that toxic stuff going into his pure body every day, and to have compassion.

#3   MARKET YOUR MEALS.

Learn from the marketing geniuses out there- If your child adores Thomas the Tank Engine (like my little fella did for YEARS) or PO from ‘KUNG FU PANDA’ or Miley Cyrus- I don’t know who is HOT right now, but if there is someone your child looks up to, perhaps you could have a little bowl or cup with their picture on it or any favourite cutlery, etc., (see pic) so your child will enjoy their food more…And of course if you are really clever, you can tell them great ’stories’ about how their hero LOVES their GREEN SMOOTHIES and salads…everyone LOVES a great story…some of them may even be TRUE! Lol (The moral of the story is what matters most…) USE STRAWS for green drinks and smoothies.  This helps a lot as some kids who are ‘texture challenged’ and just can’t do them any other way.

#4  WITH TOP CHEFS AND KIDS,  PRESENTATION IS EVERYTHING!

If it doesn’t look appetizing, chances are it won’t get a second-look chance.  Some kids are afflicted with NEOPHOBIA (I address this issue in THE HEALTHY LUNCHBOX) and won’t even TRY anything that isn’t the WHITE FLOUR/WHITE SUGAR that all their friends are eating. We need to return their minds to a healthy, wholesome state…Think of how beautiful FRUIT Ka-Bobs would look, or a beautiful salad topped off with fresh little tangerine segments and pine nuts…Always use the 5% rule- most people finish their jobs without attending to that last 5%, that last little window of opportunity to make their job really shine and sparkle!

To stand out, use fresh FLOWERS, COLORFUL DISHES or STRAWS, pretty BERRIES or other fresh fruit, SHELLS, LEAVES, CRYSTALS, or pretty linens to jazz up your presentation.  For my last dinner party which included about 22 non-raw friends, I sprinkled ROSE PETALS all over the serving table that was LOADED with enticing little bowls of nuts, dates, veggies and dip, raw h’ordeurves, exotic tropical fruit and raw cookies and crackers with soup and a simple banana’ice cream’ cake (see pic).  No one even noticed there wasn’t any cooked food, and it had the look and feeling of a FEAST!

#5   IT’S ALL ABOUT PARTICIPATION.

YOU, Mom, are NOT running a HOTEL!  I tell my family all the time ‘It takes every one of us to keep this family running smoothly…’ No one has to do it alone.  For all that you do, everyone needs to help out…or Mom could go on STRIKE!  Let them see how FAST things can fall apart when Mom drops a few balls-  Laundry gets really stinky…and the fridge gets bare really fast.  I have let my kids know since they were toddlers that what I do for them is important work, and THEIR job is to LEARN HOW TO TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES and ASSIST ME with everything I do for them.  And FOOD is a lot more FUN than housework.

Teach these ’skills for life’ by including your kids in your shopping, menu-planning, food-preparation and clean-up.  NO ONE feels good about themselves when they are constantly on the RECEIVING end and not contributing, so get them involved.  Juicing is a great place to start.  Eventually, after years of this type of training, it will be their turn to ‘make the meal’ for the whole family, and they will be ready!  PAYBACK TIME! (Just kidding…haha)

#6  HAVE FUN NAMING YOUR FOOD.

With kids young and golden, it seems everyone loves having their favourite dish named after them: SHANNON’S KEY-LIME MOUSSE, SHANNON’S SPICY CEASAR, SHANNON’S SASSY PEAR, etc. If there is something that your kids enjoy, raw or not, announce it with fanfare the next time you serve it i.e. JOE’s SPECIAL MEATLOAF, DAD’S FAVORITE POTATO SCALLOPS, etc.  The key is to just CELEBRATE your family by ACCEPTING and ENJOYING their enjoyment.  Don’t be a food-scrooge. Be sure to prepare a huge salad WITH their meal and serve everything in the spirit of REJOICING your family, the time you get to all spend together, and their individual preferences.  And over time, especially with this beautiful space of love and joy that you are cultivating within your home, it will be so fun to notice the CHANGES in everyone’s preferences…It happens gradually, but it does happen!  I promise.

#7   GROW YOUR OWN FOOD.

If you can grow a little garden with your kids, this is one of the most powerful ’seeds you will ever sew’ in their whole life…to plant and nurture and grow one’s own food is THE BEST!  Kids, everyone actually, gets so excited to see the miracle of life springing up all around the work they have put into it.  Harvesting your food is a fantastic feeling.  The food tastes better, because it just IS!  In the winter, grow sprouts on your counter top along with potted herbs.  My friend uses her city apartment balcony to grow pots of flowers, herbs, tomatoes and lettuces with her daughter. Start small, and just keep growing…

#8  PLAY IS THE CHILD’S WORK .

I talk about this more in my manual RAISING CHILDREN RAISIES US.  Because a child under 7 has such strong powers of imitation, they LOVE to copy us and everything we do, and this shows up in their play.  Take advantage of this built-in mechanism which can really make a strong impression on their psyche.  Set up a little play house or kitchen, and begin to make green Smoothies in your play and offer it to your child, the dolls, and have fun drinking some yourself.  This kind of role-play is incredibly real to your little one. Their imagination is so vivid- why not nurture that with this positive input…When my boys were really small I found them NATURALLY doing this and when I happened to over-hear them, I was thrilled and surprised.  They never went through the stage of pretending to ’smoke cigarettes’ which I assumed all kids did…no, I did that growing up because my mom smoked!  Perhaps you can really surprise and delight your child by actually serving a couple drops of smoothie in their little dolly cups and make it even more real to life.  This fosters the feeling that they are NOT the only kids who eat this way, even though it can feel like it at times…another great idea is to SHOW kids OTHER health-oriented kids and families- if you cannot actually find any locally, USE ME and my boys- sit down with them and watch my DVD- or go on the internet and find other little video postings of REAL KIDS!

We have created several videos on youtube which I hope will entertain and inspire your family.

#9   LET THEM BE THE CHEF.

At around the age of 7, your kids will want to start possibly making their own concoctions.  Helping you just won’t always be enough anymore.  When my boys started asking me to help them set up so they could make their own food, I was very curious to see what they would want to make.  It turns out it was POPSICLES!  They would make smoothies, and freeze them in those ice lollie trays with the handle sticking out.  They made their own and even NAMED their creations:  BANANA BLAST, ORANGE TURBO, LEMON- LIME TWISTER, GRAPE-PAPER, BERRY BUMBLE, etc.  They wrote their recipes down too- I WISH I could find them to share with you! Now my oldest makes a RAW CAULIFLOWER ‘POPCORN’ he calls it which he LOVES!

When kids get to the tween and teen stage, they should be able to handle themselves in the kitchen for the most part.  By now, handling a sharp knife is fairly comfortable, and using a blender is no problem.  Victoria Boutenko mentions in her first book how she bought at garage sales cheap blenders and equipment for Sergei and Vayla to use- and use they did!  Now, in their early 20’s, they are both proficient raw chefs and authors with their own recipe books.  This is how we need to think- loooooooong-term!  I imagine a time when my boys are teenagers, hanging out more with friends, and having to be able to feed themselves.  IF THEY DON’T KNOW some QUICK, SIMPLE and DELICIOUS raw recipes, how will they avoid becoming a fast-food junkie?

#10  GET OUTDOORS!

As a family, we need to get out in NATURE as much as possible.  This RE-SETS our mood and whole physiology.  If we are INDOORS too much, we are probably being sedentary, sitting watching TV or on computer or EATING!  This type of activity leads to certain sugar/simple carb cravings and behaviours.  We need to GET MOVING and enjoy FRESH AIR.  This type of activity actually changes what we feel and think and what food we want.  There have been fascinating studies that demonstrate this, and we can take advantage of this by simply doing a family hike in the woods on Sundays, or going to play ball in the park, or riding our bikes or whatever we would all enjoy.  Then when we return home, if a HUGE, beautiful bowl of colourful fruit or veggies with dip and crackers and olives are waiting, just watch how everyone digs in!  REMOVE chips and pop and the like from your home COMPLETELY so the only tempting choices available are healthy ones!

IF YOU won’t do this Mom, then you will be constantly fighting an up-hill battle!  Perhaps you can allow each child to pick ONE treat that the whole family will indulge in that week- and allow that, rotating every week so everyone has a turn, and just provide healthy LIMITS.  Also, take advantage of SEASONAL gifts of Nature~ go APPLE /BERRY/CHERRY PICKING and then go home and make wonderful food from your harvest.  This is an annual TRADITION you can enjoy as a family which creates healthy and happy memories and associations to raw, natural, healthy food!

We need to educate, educate, educate our kids!  They need to know about the benefits of raw food, and the pit falls of cooked food.  And they need a few favourite recipes they can make.

This is the GOAL. Do NOT put pressure on yourself or anyone- just go at the pace that is most do-able for you and your family.  Honour yourself, your family and your wishes for them and do what you can, in the Spirit of growing and learning and sharing and loving, TOGETHER!

xoxoxShannon

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 at 11:58 pm by Lisa and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.