party pinata

Last night I was reminiscing about aspects of my childhood with a teacher friend. We got on to the topic of parties & party food. This friend & I often discuss what children eat, should be eating & what the role of parents is in providing a balanced diet. Until recently my friend's son would not eat vegetables unless they were hidden in a 'chicken rissole' or in another identifable form. For the first time a few weeks ago her boy ate a dragon's tail (asparagus spear) which made him invisible. Yes. Invisible.

It was also through this friend that I learned to relax a little more around my childrens' diets. Whilst I don't want my children to form bad habits around eating sweet food I think it's also important that children are not 'singled out' at parties etc,. and not allowed to eat party food when others do. Like everything it's a parent's job to guide children, place limits & boundaries on food & prepare them for the real world. The real world consists of party food at times so as parents we should guide our children to choose different things from the party food table.

At Easter we had a little party with our local playgroup. I ensured our son took 4 things at a time and finished each mouthful before starting a new food. I also told him he needed a balance of sweet and savoury. Expressing my expectations at the beginning of the party meant that B knew what was expected of him and he ate a balance of sweet and savoury without missing out. Other parents and children didn't notice either so it wasn't embarrassing for anyone.

As it happens we always had a good diet at home. Balanced but also cheap. Our mum usually eats (and ate) vegetarian food - through want and necessity. Meat was, and still is, expensive. Nowadays I try to have at least 3 meat-free dinners a week. I enjoy trying new recipes - as you would have guessed!

Anyway- I have digressed. I started by mentioning children's parties. I was texting this friend the other night and I remembered something about my 7th birthday party. I had my best friends from my class come to my place for my party. There were probably about ten of us. My parents were kind enough to make me my very own pinata. We had a cricket bat to whack it - in the hope that the goodies would spill from it!

Can you imagine my astonishment when it finally broke open.... and we were showered in dried fruit- prunes, apricots - and nuts?!