With three kids, I’ve certainly gained a wealth of stories for sharing when they’re older. While many of these stories involve sleep patterns (or lack thereof), mischievous adventures (especially with my youngest) and many firsts, parents always have a story to share when it comes to feeding our kids. Whether it’s our strategy and tactics for ensuring they get balanced nutrition (or at least a full tummy, even if it involves some french fry bribes!) or the faces our babies made trying a new pureed food for the first time – it seems like parents can always relate.
“Stories From the Bright Side” is a campaign that takes a hilarious look at situations all parents have experienced in regards to feeding our kids. This campaign brings some of these moments to life as 8 of these stories are told by 7 mommy and daddy bloggers (and 1 by CEO Shazi Visram) and then acted out by improv comedians! Somehow telling the story is one thing, but having it acted out improv-style is a completely other thing!
Just take a peek at these stories, all shared here on the Happy Family Stories From the Bright Side App on Facebook! I got a kick out of watching these videos (some of the improve acting is pretty bang-on!) and relating to the bloggers who shared.
Bloggers involved include:
– Jim Lin / Busy Dad Blog & Kelcey Kintner / Mama Bird Diaries
– Linda Sharps / The Sundry Mourning & Kristen Howerton / Rage Against The Minivan
– Candy Kirby / The Laughing Stork & Morgan Shanahan / The 818
– Shazi Visram & Kristen Chase / Motherhood Uncensored
I would have loved to have improv actors act out some of my stories from the bright side! Which story would I choose, though? How my first-born determined that around 8 months he loved stew – pureed – and it became the only food he would eat for days on end (have you ever seen pureed stew?!) Or how now, as a family of 5, we insist that the kids eat “5 more bites” of a particular food they’re not fond of but then always seem to forget what bite they are on, which ensures we get 8-9 bites in? <— If you are reading this, 9 year old son of mine, that’s totally not true. I lied there. Really. Close this page now!
Do you have a funny feeding story to share? It just might be worth $20,000 towards your child’s education (yes, really!) Share your written story with an image or record a video explaining your story, and you could WIN!
The campaign will run through August 31, 2013, with all submissions evaluated by a panel of judges from Happy Family to determine the winning entry. Official rules and prize details are available at www.facebook.com/HAPPYFAM.
I love your 5 bite rule…I think I might have to use that here!
I love my sons skills in counting spoons or bytes 🙂 When I say “eat at least half of your soup before I give you more bread” or “eat 5 more spoons” , he usually answers: I think I’ll eat 28 (it varies from 15 to 30)”. Me then: 28 what? Him: 28 spoons. Hmmm… that’ll make the whole bowl, I’ll take it 🙂 I’m not in a hurry to enlighten him (at least not at the table) that 28 is much more than 5.
My daughter does that too!! She’ll pick a number that is higher than the one I gave her, just because she wants to argue or be the one to dictate the decision. She doesn’t realize what she did to herself and it cracks me up each time!
We had pretty much every veggie known to human pureed in things like spaghetti sauce, meatballs and homemade cream of chicken soup.
That’s a fun and creative way of sharing stories
Sounds really funny! I love improv.
in the early years my daughter, too, went through a phase of eating only one thing. unfortunately, it was peas! peas morning, noon and night for a couple of weeks! diaper changes were a nightmare!
Oh my those diaper changes, LOL!!! Yikes!
wow three kids. that must have been a handful
my oldest was fussy I really had to be creative my youngest was great she even thought dust bunnies were yummy
Ooh, I like your five more bites rule, wish I’d thought of that one a long time ago. I’ll be using it. Thanks.
She has to try everything at least once before she can say she does not like it and guess what she usually does.
Love the bites rule! Will definitely be trying that with my picky hard to please boy!
Oh my gosh I am laughing so hard right now, cute stories!! I love the 5 bite rule, I just may have to start doing that at our meal times, since I have a picky 4 year old eater!! I think I can come up with some funny stories worthy of $20,000… good luck everyone!!
trying everything is a good way to introduce new foods
Feeding our oldest was such a pain in the @$$!! He was never an eater and a meal could last hours. He’s 4 now and he’s just a tad better, but we use to hate feeding time.
Thanks for sharing, love the 5 bite rule (does it work for husbands too ?)
Good tips for me to use in the future
I usually pick a number of bites that my kids have to eat before they are excused from table!
I have had four fussy eaters and have tried numerous ways to expand their palate. Now, I just offer and re-offer and try not to stress about it :)!
$20,000 towards education?? Who wouldn’t want to enter this contest lol!
Haha I can so relate to the fussy eating!! But I’ve never heard of or even thought of the “number of bites rule”. Genius!! Will try that at dinner tonight and see if the kid finishes his food lol
Thanks for the heads up on the contest! Love your 5 bite idea
The 5 bite rule is genius!
It’s wonderful the internet is so much a part of our lives these days to be able to find helpful tips/tricks to keep things like meal time running smoothly!
We always make our kids try the food at least twice before they can say they do not like it. My youngest doesn’t like anything so most times he and I are the last to leave the dinner table and let me tell you he can sit there and day dream for an hour waiting for me to let him off the hook..lol.
Our kids are not allowed to say “yuck, I don’t want that” without trying it first. If they don’t like something after that, then they don’t have to continue eating it. Since we have a very fussy eater in the house however, I’ve learned to hide certain veggies within a meal so she eats it anyways..lol
I have really found Jessica Seinfelds Deceptively Delicious cook books to be very helpful 🙂
I had 5 children. The ‘bites’ thing works great for them!! I always insist they try something first before saying they don’t want. This was difficult with my last child as none before her were fussy eaters. I think it’s important to get them to try new food even if it means rolling out the red carpet and standing on our heads!
Only put the portion size they will eat! They can’t have dessert until their plates are empty!
Oddly enough, I have pureed stew. When my jaw was wired shut after jaw surgery I could only drink my food. It was pretty good, as far as things went.
Love your 5 more bites tip! Will have to try this one with my 6 year olds
I also do so many more bites .It works great
Thanks for such a great post…very funny and enlightening 🙂 I was lucky that Sara wasn’t a fussy child…the best times were our meals together.
Haha I loved reading the post and comments!
That’s a pretty unique contest. the improv component is pretty cool – something kids would totally get a kick out of watching too.
Counting bites has always been a necessary part of meal time – esp. when they trying to eat quickly to move along to do something fun after the meal.
Trying to get little ones to eat there meals is like teaching a dog to talk LOL
I have a son who would only eat peanut butter and jam sandwiches for 2 years. We tried everything to get him to eat something else, even tried to bribe him with his favorite sweets if he ate something else. Our pediatrician told us not to worry as long as he ate fruit, cheese and milk but it was frustrating for his mom and I until he out grew this eating habit.
Brought back some memories, thanks for sharing. Mealtime can be a real battleground, so its always good to keep a sense of humour about it.
Your five bite rule rawks and I’m going to suggest it to my daughters who have kids! This post brought back alot of memories!
I’m going to remember that 5-bite rule! And being able to get more bites in because they forget what bite they’re on – fantastic!