Eat the Rainbow

I always tell my kids that you should eat a rainbow of colors every day. This usually falls on deaf ears. My friend Clare gave me the idea of putting a rainbow up in the kitchen. That's what she did and every night they talk about what colors the kids ate that day. My daughter is a sucker for a chart of any kind so I made a rainbow food chart for her and my son. My daughter is always tracking what's fair in our house so she suggested that mommy and daddy have their own rainbow charts too. Fair is fair.

At the end of a meal or the end of the day they get a star for every color they've eaten. This will be a good exercise for my husband and I too. He got zero stars today and I got one since everything we ate was white or brown. The kids rocked us. Time to practice what I preach.

If the kids do a great job all week, they get to pick a special ice cream shop to go to on the weekend. This is against the rule that food should not be used as a reward but what do ya do? I'm dealing with one issue at a time. This chart also helps train my husband that we can't go out for ice cream several times a week and that it should be a treat, not a regular occurrence. He's a sucker for taking the kids on ice cream adventures.

Purple is the toughest color to eat regularly. Eggplant and plums are great this time of year. We'll classify red grapes and raisins in the purple category. I am also going to count nuts and beans in the purple category because I'd love my kids to eat more of those.

Wish us luck!