Happy FriYAY: Two Parenting Hacks Making My Life Better

Hello friends and happy FriYAY!

PARENTING HACK #1: SNEAKING HEALTHY FOODS INTO “TREATS”

Do your kids eat healthy foods? Benji had been on a green foods strike for about six plus months (honestly, it was probably longer) and it was making dinner time a little bit stressful. I tried making pasta dishes (his favorite kind of food, besides PB&J) with greens like this one and this one, but he wasn’t interested. He wouldn’t even eat around the greens! But, a few weeks ago I tried a new tactic: Healthy muffins and healthy smoothies.

I found some recipes for healthy muffins, specifically ones with greens in them, and he LOVES them. In fact, all of us are loving them. Even Denis is taking a muffin with him to work in the mornings now, and when I make the non-chocolate ones (have I mentioned my hatred of chocolate?), I have something yummy to snack on instead of ritz crackers or goldfish.

This one for chocolate muffins (with lentils, spinach, and butternut squash puree) and this one for spinach/banana muffins have been the most successful. I’ve never been much of a baker (despite my infrequent and semi-chaotic attempts), but both of these recipes are super easy and mostly made in the blender, which really speeds everything up, so I can make a whole batch in about 45 minutes, including the 20 minutes in the oven.

The other thing I’ve been doing is making green smoothies for breakfast every morning. This is the recipe that I’ve been using and it’s been a big hit, again with the whole family. This morning when I was making the smoothie, Benji actually told me not to forget the green leaves(!!!!!!!!!!!). How is this the same kid who asks me to remove the occasional tiny green spec of seasoning from his top ramen noodles?!

That’s honestly the best part of all of this. There’s no cajoling, there’s no bargaining to get him to eat healthy. Every day he asks for healthy food because he feels like these smoothies and muffins are treats. Also, it could be wishful thinking or it could be him getting closer to being three, but I honestly think we’ve seen a positive shift in his morning behavior since we started these healthy “treats.”

PARENTING HACK #2: UPGRADING THE TOILET SEAT

We potty trained Benji about eight months ago, and before we started, I bought both a little toddler-sized potty and a toddler toilet seat cover. Since then, whenever I needed to use the powder room downstairs or the guest bathroom upstairs, I’ve had to pull off a toilet seat cover. And I always had to hustle over to the bathroom to make sure it was on when Benji needed to go.

But last week, we installed (okay, technically, I ordered them and Denis installed them) two new (slow-close) toilet seat covers that have little seats built into them for Benji. It is so NICE not to have to pull toilet seat covers off before using the bathroom and not to have them hanging around when guests come over.

I only wish we had installed these sooner!