Negotiator

Sitting at the table ... and literally feeling like a hostage negotiator has been the last 4 years of my reality ... I can literally pin point a month where Boogie went from eating food to scraping baby food off his tongue ... dry retching and gagging all over the place .... Back then ... we just thought it was a quirky "I don't like green peas face" ... But little did I know I would be connecting the dots 4.5 years later ..

I went on to spend the better half of my days negotiating with him to eat Something ... ANYTHING!!! Changing his diet every week ... trying to get a pattern of actually eating something ... It has taken me literally 5 years ... 5 months and 7 days to let go ... and even still everyday .. a little bit of me wants to ram something down into his stomach and make him eat out of sheer frustration!!!

And then you get the Nutritionists and Dieticians who think they know it ALL ... half of which don't even have kids of their own or have never EVER come face to face with a REAL sensory eater before .. Who know the best solution for YOUR child ... and YOUR child proves them wrong by power chucking their resolution across the room ... I try sooo hard to keep my smug face to myself .. but every time it just creeps out from the corner of my mouth...

Oh No!!!!!!! My kid is not considered healthy because he doesn't eat fruit and veggies ... that makes me a failure as a mother ... I am doing something wrong ... feeding him the wrong things ... Something I am told everyday in my own head and conscience that I am not ... But don't feel alone!!!

According to an article circa 2009 the ABC reported that;

"The 2009 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare national report card found that a whopping 78 per cent of 4-8 year olds, 86 per cent of 9-13 year-olds and 95 per cent of 14-16 year-olds are not eating the recommended daily servings of vegetables. Take out potatoes, which most kids eat as chips, and the percentage of kids not getting the nutrition they need jumps to 97, 98 and 100 per cent respectively. Other research has made similar findings."

WOW ...

Do you feel like a better mother now?!  I know I do!!! Sooooo if you need a bit of cheering up ... like I know and you do battle things at the dinner table ... don't fret ... as your not really alone!! I wish I knew the stats on textural and sensory eating issues ..

There are plenty of Blog-Families and mummies out there dealing with sensory eating ... You only have to ask the lord of all things Google to find something for you .. But here are a couple that I frequent!!!

Mealtime Hostage - My Child Won't Eat Vegetables
SPD Foundation - Parents tips for picky eaters
Mom.Me - Feeding Kids with Sensory Processing Disorder

I'll sign off as head negotiator and leave you all to your week!!! I have a battle of getting someone over the mini man flu for the 3rd time in 4 weeks!!! *sigh* ... Enjoy - DMMC x

Little Jobs

Soo .. thought I would share what I do at home for rewards etc .... We have done the rewards charts for stickers since he was little and it used to be the thrill of getting them etc but they have now lost their charm .... So stickers now have a value!! 15 stickers are accumulated for a prize ... only $10 in value ... or if he collects 30 .. it is an outing ...

For example at the moment .. he picked a marble race track game from kmart for his reward at the end .... 

Our Reward Challenge This Month - 4 Stickers Already!!

Stickers can be accumulated by having a no tantrum - no get out of bed before the alarm goes kind of day ... or by doing little chores around the house ... He gets to choose if his sticker goes on the outing wall ... or if it goes on the reward box ... which I love because he is making a conscious decision that can't be changed ... 

He has started doing stuff like (under my watchful eye of course)

Collecting the mail - which has to be done for the week for a sticker as it is pretty basic....
Sorting out a basket of his clothes into his clothes drawers ...
Putting Dirty clothes in the washing machine... 

Emptying the plastics and cutlery out of the dishwasher .. (not sharps obviously incase he stumbles)

I don't count cleaning his room or putting the toys away in the toyroom sticker worthy ... only because my philosophy (or OCD - whatever you want to call it lol) is if you pull it out .. you put it away!! He understands that... and knows that if he is going to pull out a whole toybox ... he has to put them away before he pulls out another .. works pretty well for us if I am going to be honest :)

I have been meaning to share this little age appropriate chore chart that I stumbled upon a couple of months ago ... I am only making him do stuff within his capabilities ... obviously Boogies hands don't have the motor skills required to wash glass plates but he knows how to stack the dishwasher or hand wash with his plastic stuff and I am happy with that!!!

What kinds of things do you expect or get your kids to do around the house?? I am looking for lots of kiddy friendly good ideas!!