Your Guide to a Peaceful Family Dinner

You have made a wonderful meal, you sit down with your family and cringe because you know what is coming: "I don't like this." "Do I have to eat this?" "Can I have something else?" Try out the following tips to turn your dinner time from disaster in to delight.

Plan your weekly meals ahead of time. Have have everyone in the family pick one main dish of their choice each week (this should be within reason of course - they can't pick filet mignon every week). That way, everyone has a meal to look forward to.

Offer your children choices at other times of the day. They can have lots of choices for breakfast, snack time and lunch time, but not dinner. What is on the table when everyone sits down is all that will be offered. This way, you will be able to retire your apron during the meal and enjoy sitting at the table with the rest of the family instead of playing short-order cook.

Be creative. If your child does not like the main dish but there is an element of it that they do like, give them that option (ie: if you are making a pasta with a sauce, scoop out some of the plain pasta before adding the sauce for them to eat). Children have very sensitive taste buds. But don't worry, some of the pickiest eaters grow up to be chefs with highly refined palates.

Serve dinner "family style." Let everyone serve themselves. Young children love to participate in meals this way because it makes them feel big. Remind them that they should be able to eat what they take and can't deprive anyone of their portion. While this may create a few more dishes, it will lower the number of headaches.

Include the "basics." Consider serving a plate of cut up raw veggies at most meals. Little hands can help themselves and dressings or dips make it fun. You can save any left overs for the following day's dinner in a zip-loc bag. Make bread and butter available at most meals as well. High protein whole grain breads are full of the nutrition your little ones need (try Martin's Whole Wheat Potato Bread with 70 calories per slice and 6 grams of protein).

Keep putting out the broccoli. Studies show that some children need to see a new food 20 times before they will even try it. So don't give up hope. Just yesterday, my three year old tried a cucumber for the first time and proceeded to eat 10 slices!

Don't sweat it. If they don't want to eat, they can have the choice to sit at the table and participate in the conversation or they can ask to be excused and play quietly elsewhere - but not in the kitchen/dining area. Make meal time full of laughter and stories and they won't want to miss out on the family fun.

Close the kitchen. Once your children are excused, dinner is over. Make sure they know this before leaving the kitchen. Remember, a hungry belly is the best teacher!