How to make a reluctant eater eat up

My girl is a reluctant eater. Its hard to get her to eat up her food. She will eat when I'm feeding her though. I'm really tired of this food war we have at home. Her brother loves food and loves eating on his own. He will eat up until he's full then tell you that he's full.

So one day I had this idea. I brought out the heart shape chocolate which the kids love and showed it to them. "Whoever finishes their food first, will get this chocolate" I said and you know what? My girl, the reluctant eater, finished her food all by herself in a jiffy. Lol!

I know I can't always use this method but it worked for the day. The other reason why I can't use this method all the time is because its unfair to the little brother who eats well but couldn't finish as fast as her just because he's younger. So although he didn't get to eat the heart shaped chocolate, I gave him a tub of yoghurt, which he loves for finishing his meal.

Does anyone else have a better idea than this on how to make a reluctant eater eat up? I hope you can share with me.

Moral Lessons: Do Not Accept Gifts or Food from a Stranger

Recently I was trying to teach my girl some moral lessons.

At home........

MG: Do not talk to strangers and do not accept gifts or food from strangers. Strangers are people you don't know. Understand or not?

My Girl: Why?

MG: Because some strangers may be bad people so you don't know if the things or food they give you are bad or not. So don't accept anything from strangers and don't talk to strangers. Also don't open the door for strangers. Blah blah blah...

At the supermarket........

Promoter hands MG a packet of soap powder which MG accepts.

My Girl: Mummy, why did you accept things from that stranger?

MG: *Speechless* (Actually I mumbled something about that was a promoter etc but the answer sounded so lame to me. Later on, I told her she was right to remind mummy not to accept anything from a stranger. Hahaha!)

Tell me, how would you have answered your kid if they asked you that?

My Baby is Three

My baby turned three over the weekend. Time really flies. It seems like he just learned his first word yesterday. Now he can say a lot more than that. Haha. As usual, we decided to splash on the gift rather than on a party so we had a private family party and bought him a motorized scooter or police motorbike. He was delighted! He looked absolutely adorable riding the motorbike, a little fella on a miniature bike.

Since its his birthday, I might as well record some observations I make of him or his character so far.

• He is independant. He often insists on doing things himself. He often says "I want to eat myself" "I wanna do myself" insisting on dressing himself, eating himself, wearing his own shoes and going to the toilet himself etc. I've only just recently toilet trained him but he is fully trained now. He wakes up dry every morning and he can point his pee pee in the right places now. Hahaha. And he often insists on pulling his pants up himself after that.
• He is a neat little fellow. When he feeds himself, he always makes sure the food falls on his plate or bowl and not on the table and if any food crumbs should fall on the table, he would insist that I wipe it immediately (*rolls eyes*). When he feels like vomitting he would tell me "I wanna burb" then rush to the toilet bowl and throw up there. Such a good little boy he is.
• He loves to sing. I can often hear him singing songs he makes up to himself when he is playing.
• He loves to eat.
• He has a bad habit of pinching my face before he goes to sleep. When I tell him not to, he says "Nice!" then gives me a kiss or says "Sorry" then continues to do it. *rolls eyes again*. Once he even said "I pinch you because I love you." Alamak! A sweet talker in the making.
• He is polite and generous with his "Sorry"s and "Thank you"s or "Thank Ku" as said by him.
• He is manja and if he cries he won't stop till I comfort or hug him. A small thing could have him cry with big big tears rolling down his face as though its such a big thing and so pitiful. Really.

Thats my boy just turned three. Mmmmuaks! Mummy loves you very, very much!

The best thing you can do for your children is to take care of yourself

"Hon, please look after yourself first. That is the best thing you can do for the kids."

After coming home from hospital due to having 3 seizures in a day, the first thing I started lamenting about was how disappointed I was that our girl could not start kindergarden as we had planned and when we should start her as soon as possible. (since she's already late starting).

My husband could only look at me, shake his head and repeat the above phrase over and over again. I tried to protest but I didn't argue with him as I normally would. Hehe. What he says is true of course so how could I argue. I am disappointed that I could not start my girl in kindergarden but there is nothing I can do accept concentrate on recovering ie getting as much sleep as possible and learning not to get stressed up over little things.

I had planned to either drive her (in fact we had been searching for a second car right up to the day before the seizures) or walk her. Now neither seems possible. Sigh. I can't drive. Its too dangerous. Walking the kids alone would be too risky too. So I'll have to find alternative transportation arrangement but all that is secondary.

Like hubby says, "take care of yourself first, then worry about the rest later." And thats exactly what I'll do. Same message goes out to all parents out there. Take care of yourself. Don't take your health lightly. The best thing you can do for your children is to take care of yourself.