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This summer I learned a great lesson: traveling with three kids is tough! Especially if they are all under the age of 10!
It's funny how you see the world differently when you have children. Holiday destinations look and feel different when you have your children with you. The things you look for in a country or a hotel/resort are completely different.
Thankfully, choosing Thailand for a summer destination with kids turned out to be a very wise choice. I was amazed at how child-friendly everyone was!
I didn't feel awkward when my baby was crying, and I didn't get stuck at any restaurant because they were happy to cater to anything we requested. Most restaurants had menus which were quite easy to choose from ... I wasn't used to that.
Usually, I cringe when I see children's menus. You'll most likely find chicken nuggets, burgers, French fries, or macaroni & cheese on the list at many family restaurants. Kids are expected to eat the refined, fried versions of the dishes chosen by their parents. So while the adults dine on steamed sea-bass and roasted vegetables, the kids eat processed sausages and fried-to-death potatoes. Why is that?
The best example is airline food. Our travel agent requested kid's meals for our children during our flights. What a great idea, I thought, until I saw the meals that were presented. During each of the four flights that we were on, my kids were given chocolates, desserts, sweet milky drinks ... and the list goes on.
On one of the flights, the kid's meal box looked so horrifying that I had to take a picture of it. That was the box presented to my children who were starving at the time. When my daughter opened it, even she was surprised.
She looked at me and said: "There's nothing healthy to eat in here, mama, what should I do?"
The kid's meal box included a large bar of chocolate, chocolate milk drink, sweet mango pudding, commercial sweetened cereal and a muffin with sugar syrup on the side. Then, the stewardess said that the 'hot' meal is coming in a minute. I breathed a sigh of relief. A few minutes later, I discovered the hot meal was waffles with syrup.
I was stuck.
On the next flight, I knew I should equip myself with better options so I packed my own brown bread slices, dried natural fruits, nuts, rice cakes, healthy fruit bars, and dried beans. and we were munching on those the whole way.
Why not give the kids a choice of salads, vegetables, fish, and 'real' food?
One of the restaurants we went to during the holiday had an elaborate menu for children which included kid-sized salads, vegetable sticks with dip and even a choice of a vegetable side-dish, which is included with every meal! And, the best part is that kids are much more likely to choose them because they see them on the kid's menu.
I wish more restaurants would add healthier options for the young.
Many parents would argue that their kids won't eat the healthier options. But I disagree. We have allowed the media and branding to rule our kids' food choices for far too long. Just because a box has cartoons on it, it doesn't mean your children should be eating it.
We are the ones who accepted foods targeted at kids and made them part of their life. Unfortunately, food that is targeted at children is usually of the poorest quality.For example, pick any kid's yoghurt and look at the amount of sugar it has in it. Some of them have the equivalent of four teaspoons in a small pot of yoghurt. Anything that has that much sugar should be treated as a dessert, and yet parents give it as a healthier option for dinner or snack.
If your children won't eat fruits, vegetables, or salads it's probably because they are not part of their life as much as they should be. Bring them in to daily meals. Childhood is the ideal time to teach your children how to eat healthily.
Recently, a friend of mine told me that she uses a 'points system' at home to get her children to do household chores. Bingo! I decided to try it too. So, I created a chart for each of the kids and made a list of the things that they can get points for. For example, they get three points if they make their bed in the morning, six points for reading a book, etc.
A few days later I realised it can work for food too! So, I give them eight points for every glass of green smoothie that they drink in the morning. Two points every time they try a new food, 10 points for inventing a healthy recipe, and so on.
They are loving it and having a lot of fun with it too. It's a great solution for summer stress when you have kids.
When they accumulate a certain number of points each week, I treat them to a trip to the cinema, a trip to the ice skating rink, or a swim in the pool.
The competition between them is making it more exciting, and before I knew it, they started to enjoy the healthy options that they used to make faces at.
For more such ideas for parents and teachers, get my latest book 'I Want Healthy Kids'. And remember to sign up on my website for the latest. www.AliaAlmoayed.com.
