Kids' food at Common House Meals -- Joani Blank | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Fred H Olson (fholsoncohousing.org) | |
Date: Wed, 20 Feb 2002 11:08:00 -0700 (MST) |
Joani Blank <joani [at] swansway.com> is the author of the message below. It was posted by Fred the Cohousing-L list manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org> because the message included HTML ; PLEASE do not post HTML, see http://csf.colorado.edu/cohousing/2001/msg01672.html -------------------- FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS -------------------- Trina and others, I wrote the article on common meals that was published in the next to last issue of Cohousing. (wish I could give you the date, but I can't remember exactly and can't find my copy--yikes, and I'm the associate editor!--anyway it's the one with the mostly blue cover featuring the open trusses at Swan's Market.) I don't remember putting a lot of stuff in there about kid's meals but there was some info there. I hope that someone in your community has a copy. (If Jackson Place is a member of the Cohousing Network, you should have several copies floating around. I've eaten common dinners in at least a dozen common houses, and asked about kid's meals in several others I think that most do not have special food for kids at most common meals, although they might occasionally if they believe the entire menu on a particular night is not kid-friendly. Most adults in these communities will urge their kids to try new stuff, and some parents report that their kids will try new stuff more readily in the common house than they do at home, because it's less likely to feel like a battle between mom and/or dad and their own kid(s). Only one community that I know of always puts out peanut butter and jelly and bread and plain rice at a side table for kids who don't ever want to eat whatever's at common dinner. And one more always has a kid entree alongside the adult main course(s) In most communities, it is hard to get the kids to stay at the table very long (no matter what they are being served) because there are more interesting things to do--i.e. run off and play with other kids. At Doyle St. there was a rule that a kid whose parents had told him or her that he/she could leave the table couldn't go up to kids who were still eating and urge them away from the table, but usually the kids "got it" that some were off playing and soon joined them in leaving the table You didn't ask about that, did you, but it relates to what I'm about to write. We're presumably only talking 2 or 3 meals a week here and I've observed that many parents are relatively relaxed about how much or what their kids eat at common dinner. So what, they seem to say, if my kid doesn't eat the right amount of a balanced diet at these few meals per week or if he or she runs off to play before the adults have eaten only a few bites. You can always do things differently in your own house. Kids will quickly get the idea of their being a double standard. After all, most kids know that there is still another standard in a restaurant. Of course your community may have parents who have different ideas, and by all means, it would be good to have a meeting of all the parents, talk it over and see if you can come up with a plan that will please most of the people most of the time..... But I would suggest that overall, the simpler you keep your meals, the happier both cooks and eaters will be in the long run. And personally, I'm not in favor of special meals for kids---of course once in a while it's fun to have a all-kid meal (mac and cheese of course) for everyone. I haven't lived in cohousing with young kids of my own, but I think if I did I'd want them to be exposed to new foods, and if they didn't eat well at a partiuclar common meal, I'd just offer them a healthy snack after dinner if they wanted it, or let them eat a snack before bed, or wait until breakfast. You have noticed, have you not, that kids will eat when they get hungry.....Unfortunately too many of us adults eat even when we're not hungry. (I know you can't see it, but I'm raising my hand......) Joani Swan's Market Cohousing, Oakland, CA _______________________________________________ Cohousing-L mailing list Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org Unsubscribe and other info: http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l
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