So Much for Sandwiches

I took my kids to the pediatrician yesterday, and DS got bad news - he needs to lose weight and exercise. I'm trying to approach this as a "modern parent" and try to keep a balance between cutting out the junk food and not totally crushing his self-esteem or tying it to an unrealistic body image.



So while combing through my email inbox, I came across an article about "Six Kid-Friendly Sandwiches," which is on the http://www.parenting.com/ website. My kids are not big fans of sandwiches in the first place, but these would not even rate as distance acquaintances:



1. Extra-Special Grilled Cheese Toasts with Tomato. You would think they would like this because they love pizza, and it has the same basic ingredients. But this is reminiscent of the saying "like chalk and cheese:" two things that are superficially alike, but which are in fact totally different. The idea of an actual fresh tomato is not as appetizing as jarred tomato sauce that will probably last forever.




2. Cheesy Cinnamon Toast - another one that in theory should work because it would taste like a cheese danish, but again, cheese can only be on pizza, not mixed with anything else, and only accompanied by savory, not sweet spices.







3. Cheesy Quesadillas with Avocado. I, myself, am of the school that cheese tastes good on almost everything. In fact, it is the only way I can eat brussel sprouts. The only way my kids will eat avocado is in guacamole. I was thinking of spreading the guacamole on the tortillas, but they do not like green things with cheese.







4. Pan Fried Peanut Butter and Jelly - Okay, the pan frying is definitely out of the question, but I was looking for stuff for school, and there are no nuts allowed.







5. Super crunchy peanut butter and bananas. See #4.







6. Chicken nuggets with Honey-Lemon Dipping Sauce. My kids are suspicious of these because I thought kids would eat anything that was fried and dipped in batter, so I tried to feed them fish nuggets and soy nuggets, and now they won't eat any nuggets at all. The only sauce-like thing they will put on food is ketchup.




Is it just my kids, or is everyone challenged?