Tags: Nutrition | Physician Mother Stories

It's been a fruit and vegetable month, and my hero nutritionist colleague, Ellyn Satter may have met her match!  As many of you know, one of my favorite books is titled How To Get Your Kid To Eat, But Not Too Much; and as a pediatrician I recommend it all the time.

Now I'm reading it again as a mother!

My youngest has declared an all out strike on fruits and vegetables, and it is testing the patience of us all!  The Satter Philosophy, of which I have long been a faithful believer, is working to test me these days in a colossal way.  She insists that the parent's job is to put healthy nutritious things in front of our children, and the child's job is to choose what and how much to eat.

Remembering Paul Harvey, who died recently, I should get to "the rest of the story."  The real reason I downloaded this story was so that you would know, without a doubt, that even pediatrician's children have a tough go of it sometimes when it comes to healthy stuff, and to share the turning point in our story.  Last Friday night my committment to fruits and vegetables got a little boost.

We all found ourselves around the television rediscovering a box of "lost videos."  When the older children had grown tired of our Veggie Tales video collection (started more than ten years ago!), I had boxed it up and put it in the basement.  Now, with the stomach bug running rampant through the house, we were all taking it easy looking for ways to stay restful and quiet.

What a ‘MOM Moment' to watch my family share something that entertained our fifteen year old as much as the 5 year old (and everyone else for that matter!)  VeggieTales.  If you have never heard of these guys, you owe yourself the next few minutes and a peek.  Values, humor, lessons in living.  Call...we'll lend you our collection!

Reviewed by Gayle Schrier Smith, MD and her Partners in Pediatrics