Smart Home: Dinner Gets Tough, Sharing tips with Ragú® Mom’s the Word

Dinnertime doesn’t always have to be disastrous.  Finding ways to encourage a positive dining experience is pretty much every Smart Mama’s dream.  If adding a seatbelt to your preschool/elementary aged child’s chair would be appropriate, I bet half of you would use it no time.  Or if every child was so excited to try the new vegetable you have placed on the plate, I am certain you might find a few speechless moms.

Together, we have all “been there, done that,” in attempting a positive dining experience.  An aspect of parenting that I LOVE, is learning about those experiences other moms have had.  Those experiences may have taught them NEVER to offer chocolate milk as it fills up there belly too much with dinner or ALWAYS offer it as part of a bribery to get the child to take a bite of Aunt Mildred’s liverwurst pot pie that you are convinced they’ll love.  I love to ask another moms (like YOU!) how they have or would handle a similar situation.  Their advice gets put right into my “Smart Mama Toolbox” to use as needed.

Smart Mama Meal Tip: Use Ketchup, as needed.

In my home,  the Ketchup bottle has been my collaborator in getting new foods eaten.  Yes, we do that in my house and I’m not necessarily proud that the red stuff we usually top our burgers with is the condiment of choice for salad greens and more.  I know, it sounds gross, but it’s what I’ve resorted to recently when the “I won’t eat it” nonsense creeps into mealtime.

I recently sat down with moms extraordinaire Audrey McClelland of MomGenerations.com and Daphne Brogdon of CoolMom.com to talk about how we handle those nights when Dinner Gets Tough, like my Kethup bottle solution.

Once again, I realized that I am very much not alone when dealing with dinnertime disasters.  We all have them.  Some are more unusual than others but, sorry to burst your bubble, there are no Brady Bunch family dinners out there.  Audrey has tweaked a common college days drinking game to get her kids to take a bite, while Daphne has realized that switching the plate and location of dinner can make all the difference with her son.

Drinking games and dinner location change have been added to my toolbox.  What else should I add?  Head over to Facebook.com/ragusauce to hear our other “been there, done that” experiences and share your stories too!  I’ld love to hear what has worked, or hasn’t worked, in your home!

Disclosure:  This post & all videos were created in connection with my appointment as an Ambassador in Ragú^® Mom’s the Word on Dinner Program.