"Karen G" wrote in message
...
The thread on bedtime snacks got me thinking. I have one child who
thinks dessert should be served at every meal and should always be ice
cream (although she might try some pumpkin squares or jello on an odd
night). I have been trying to make dessert not unusual, but not
mandatory in our home. We do not serve dessert every night and I try to
make it vaguely nutritional and with some variety.

So this is sort of what I do about this:
Dessert is always served immediately following the meal. In most cases,
the kids are full of other foods and thus eat a reasonably small portion
of dessert.

If we have a sweet meal (pancakes, waffles), we do not have dessert.

From time to time, I serve pumpkin desserts or breads. We also eat
custards with some frequency. Ice cream is a local favorite and we make
homemade frozen yogurt and sorbets on and off to supplement the standard
white stuff from the store.

What do you all do about dessert--frequency, variety, etc?



Until DS was four and visited with Grandma and Grandpa he didn't know there
was such a thing as dessert! He caught on too quickly. Ds is now 8. I
rarely serve dessert except on major holidays like his birthday vbg,
Thanksgiving, maybe Christmas. But, in an effort to get him to eat
everything on his plate I finally caved and started the rule that he could
have dessert if *all* of his diner was eaten in a reasonable amount of time
with little parental nagging to "take a bite", ifkwim! We have seen meal
time complaints and dawdling decrease to low levels. I am now trying to
figure out how to reduce the frequency of dessert, but am also dealing with
what appears to be a grwoth spurt supported by at least two hollow legs and
at least five hollow arms if one even hints that there might be ice cream or
apple sauce in the offing. Sigh. But he is not overweight and eats healthy
most of the time so I guess I shouldn't feel too bad about the introduction
of dessert [for him alone] into our home.

-Aula