Wrong. Mom does not make one meal for the family. That was a lesson hard learned. The solution took time to come to.
Not only are the nutritional needs different at different age groups (mac n cheese may be fine for the kids but may add pounds to mommas waist), but in families like mine, one person's food is another person's poison (like my kid who was able to eat only 6 foods among which was salmon and her sister was so allergic to fish that the smell in the air makes her break out in hives, struggle to breathe, and throw up).
So how do you make this work and not go crazy while cooking?
I used the opportunity to teach my kids to cook and we made things alongside each other. Here's today's example.
One son wanted hot dogs. Another saw me starting my rice noodles and stir frying some veggies, so he started a pot of water to make spaghetti. The boys worked on making their meals. When the hot dogs were ready, the kiddo wanting hot dogs, put them on buns and happily had his meal. The other son, chopped his up to put in with spaghetti and sauce. And I had my pasta and veggies.
There you go! Collaborative meal planning.
We do this often. It works. Having the kids in the kitchen learning side by side pays off. My kids know how to cook as a result (though one is less confident in his skills than the others as cooking is not his thing).
One goal as a parent is to work ourselves out of a job and equip our children with skills for succeeding in life. I love that bending to my family's needs and finding a solution has lead to creative independence and family bonding. It's not just families that have meals together that stay together. It's also families cooking together that create memories that keep us together.
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