Confession Time

My first confession is daily baths are overrated!  Not for me silly but the kiddos.  Brady suffered with horrible weeping eczema and his dermatologist told me to bathe him twice a week.  And to be honest I have never been a fan of the 11 step bedtime routine.  I know too may people who start that crap and then wish they never had.  Because lets face it there will be times when you stay late at a party or something and you will not have the time to do all the steps which can lead to major meltdown.  So baths in this house happen 2-3 times a week and that's it.  Now if this leads me to have the smelly kid I may have to rethink my schedule. haha 

My second confession is I don't force healthy foods on my kids.  I was THE pickiest eater ever when I was little.  I only ate pizza, mac -n-cheese, pb & j and cereal.  And I turned out just fine.  I figure we grew up on white bread and Kool-Aid and never thought about whole grains or high fructose corn syrup.  Actually, feeding Brady was such a struggle when he was little because of his allergies, I am just happy to see him eat!  I am not interested in senseless power struggles at every meal just to see my kids eat wheat bread, or eat tilapia, etc.  I do want them to try things because ya' never know but begging is not something I am going to resort to. 

As a side note, never force your kids to take one more bite.  We were at a birthday party once and I was determined to get Brady to eat a whole piece of pizza.  I turned into my mother and was force feeding him.  I could hear myself saying "eat now because you are not eating at home."  Well, I regretted forcing the pizza and the slice of cake with blue frosting as soon as it all got puked up on my white carpet the second we got home.  This reminds me of another time I forced the hot dog on him and that came up too.  Sometimes, when kids say they aren't hungry they mean it.  They could be getting the stomach flu.  Another tip is to never purchase blue, red or orange Gatorade when they are sick. My kids will never drink pedialyte, trust me I have tried.  However, the colors I mentioned stain!  Clear Gatorade is where it's at, especially when it comes back up.