My two boys could not be more different. They are on opposite ends of the spectrum in nearly every way you can imagine! Same oven (me), same ingredients used (I’ll let you fill in those gaps), and yet a completely different result each time! It’s like Jackson is a plain old delicious and fool-proof and reliable hamburger bun, and Jordy is a pretzel 😉 a little crazy in shape and loads of flavour! Jackson is calm, collected and calculated.
Jordy is well out of control (mine and his own), fast and totally fearless (basically a mum’s nightmare!)
Jackson is quiet, extremely observant, and talks when he has something to say.
Jordy is loud, vibrant, also observant but limited attention span, and talks ALL THE TIME.
I could go on and on… but the last major difference I’ll refer to is in their eating preferences;
Jordy has the most incredible appetite, but for alllll the good stuff. Broccoli, fresh fruit and veggies by the handful, whole peppers as if they are apples, olives, onion and spinach — he eats and loves it all. If you put a pie and salad in front of Jordy he will smash the salad in 2 minutes, and then he will eat my salad too.
Jackson on the other hand… let’s just say Jack will eat the pie.
It has been a struggle since Jackson was eating solids to get him to eat {let alone enjoy} veggies! I am always looking for new ways to make it interesting, fun or at the very least not a painstakingly-long dinner episode as he mock charges and gags through spinach and or avocado. I am not even kidding you guys, I cant give him avo – he literally nearly vomms.
I was so excited when Food Lover’s Market sent us the Goodness Gang Bedtime Stories!
A beautifully illustrated five-part, printable PDF (which include a colouring picture in each book) available for download.
I don’t know if you are familiar with the Goodness Gang campaign which ran across Food Lover’s stores nationwide, whereby you could redeem both the characters as well as plush toys, but the purpose of the campaign is designed to help parents of Grade RR to Grade 3 learners teach their children about the benefits of eating their fruit and veg.
The Goodness Gang consists of seven cute plush toys named Betty Broccoli, Benny Banana, Pumi Pea, Manny Mushroom, Bongi Blueberry, Adam Apple and Sally Strawberry. The stories feature the Goodness Gang’s exciting trip from Fruitlandia to Food Lover’s Market to teach the boys and girls about healthy eating.
My boys loved reading these ebooks with me – which we watched on my laptop. They are also handy to keep on your phone for when you are out with kiddies and need something to distract them! We enjoyed trying to recall all the names of the seven characters – a great memory activity.
The stories were very sweet and I was so surprised as towards the end of the series the veggies make their way through “Junk Food Alley”, and Jackson turned to me and told ME what sugar and sweets were so bad, and that he didn’t want to eat many of them! He actually gave me a sucker he was given the other day saying he didn’t want it because there was too much sugar in it!!! After we finished the eBooks we then had a lot of fun with the Zappar app which allowed the boys to take selfies with the characters 😉
*See end of post for link to download
What I have found most helpful about the series is that I now refer to fruit and veggies by their ‘names’, reminding the boys of the books and bringing a little bit of fun into our mealtimes.
I love that Food Lover’s Market has put together a campaign which considers us as parents, and some of the struggles we face! Hopefully I can get my two little buns eating lots more veggies with the help of the Goodness Gang and hopefully more stories to come!
*If you would like to get these stories you can download them here:
https://foodloversmarket.co.za/gg-bedtime-storyclub/
*You can download the Zappar app here on iOS:
https://itunes.apple.com/za/app/zappar/id429885268?mt=8
Website:Â https://foodloversmarket.co.za
Instagram: @foodloversmarket
