new to single parenting. Can you give me some tips on feeding the kids and staying on schedule at the same time? Thanks!

Well, while not a single parent, my sister is one on JC. Her kids are 1.5 and 3.5, so this may or may not work for you, but Isaac (3.5) loves those boxed lunches of little meats and cheeses and crackers with Shrek or Spiderman. Sometimes she gets him the pizza or the hot dogs, but the most important thing is that it's portion sized for children, so there's not much left for her to finish for him. That's a temptation for all mothers, I think.
For the 18-month-old, she tends toward a lot of the small fingerfoods. Again, not something with food left over at the end of the meal, and easy to make without tasting. Anita also adores eating fresh fruit.
Also, my sister eats her own dinner before she even starts to prepare theirs, so she's not really hungry when she feeds them. She'll have some fruit at the table, so they can all eat together, but she's already had her meal.
I hope this helped,
Melodious

I am not a single but parent of 3 kids. My advice of staying on track and feeding kids:
1. everything which is left in the plate after they ate goes to trash
2. if it is cake and it made it inside the house and is left on their plate - it goes in the trash too - preferably smash icing around the edge of your trash can so that you are not tempted to eat your cake
3. have a snack before you start feeding kids
4. never feed kids when you are hungry - what works for me - I eat snack right before I am leaving work - so when I come home I am not tempted to grab from their plates
5. plan in advance. Put their lunches together at night when you finished your dinner - you will not be tempted to eat, pack everything - in the morning just take the lunch boxed and put them in lunch bags
6. never get hungry. At the first hunger either drink water or eat your snack - you will notice that you are not angry and your kids will notice it too.
7. remind them that you are not on a diet, give them a healthy example of eating - my teen, who never was overweight, currently eats salads with me - she did not do it year ago
keep trying
Sandy.

Hi,
I am a single mom of 2 boys - 11 and 10 years old. One of the things that we do is with our chores, there is a different person making dinner every night. So, it's easier for me on the nights that they make dinner. On the nights that I make dinner, I have made their dinner and mine (jenny craig meal) so they finish at the same time and then we all sit down to dinner like normal, it just happens that mine is different from theirs.
Tanis
237.3/231.8/130

I feed my kids similar to what I'm eating, and they eat the same vegetables that I am having. It doesn't seem quite so "different" that way.
I have also enlisted their help. Mine are 14, 13 and 13 (yep twins!). My daughter's chore is dinner dishes, and I had a heart-to-heart with her on how "dangerous" leftovers are for me (I'm a compulsive grazer), so she makes sure that directly after dinner she puts everything away and gets those dishes done to help out her mom. Ain't she sweet?
They also act as Food Patrol, which can be quite annoying, but it keeps me out of the bread basket!
They eat like I do now - much healthier. And they don't miss their favorite sweets either - but the rule is we only get enough for one snack at a time. The was it doesn't hang around. Someone made me a Christmas cake, it was huge. I cut it up, put it in Tupperware, and froze it. One gets thawed out every Sunday dinner for their dessert, and leftovers go in the trash can - the BOTTOM of the trash can - or the garbage disposal.
They beg for my food. One of my daughters adores the tofu out of my potstickers. They all love lasagna, they'd rather have mine than their spaghetti haha. Mom gets barbeque?? No fair!
They love to help me out, and I take full advantage of it.

Hi,
Im a single mom of 3. I haven't had any problems making food for them and not eating it!lol They love pasta, so I make different pastas and add chicken or tuna to them. I've only been on the program 1wk. and doing great. I've lost 4lbs.!!! I find the easier, better. Good luck
6' 29yrs
start 193
wk 1 189
goal 160

I'm a divorced mom with 2 boys, 7 and 10. Besides losing weight myself, I'd like my sons to eat healthier, too. I've been lazy about getting them to eat vegetables, fresh fruits, etc. My oldest takes after me and is already a little overweight. I want to help him nip it in the bud. I'm working on a plan to wean them off the nuggets and fries and provide healthier meals. We watched "Super-size me" (movie) and that helped!!!

I am a new member and a divorced single mom of two 12 and 9. I have found already that in changing my eating habits and slowly changing the way my kids eat as well I have to smile and say this is new and it will br good to try something new.
I always have them choose the meat they want for the night before and thaw in the fridge overnight/all day. As I am making my salad or steamed veggie to go with my dinner I make it in tripple so they eat the same as I do. They don't always like it, but I tell them if they start eating better now they won't have to go through the same as their mom. My 12 year old already has my Carb fettish, so it is a little harder for her.
stay posative and it will work [email=null]null[/email]

My sis is a single mom. She stayed on plan by fixing a meal similar to hers for the kids.
There are lots of good ideas being posted for you here. Hope you post back when you find what works for you, it'll help someone else!
Jan

I am also a single mom (divorced) but I don't have kids living at home. I'm a grand "mom". I have the grandkids over every weekend. That is when I have all my trouble. They love the sweet goodies I get from JC and I have to skip mine. But they are my "babies" now and I'm trying to show them how to eat small portions. Two of them seem to have this under control It's hard to get them to eat much of anything! I have started putting everyone's food on small plates, including mine, and it works for portion control. No one is hungry afterward and they seem to like most of the foods. I've only cheated a couple of times, that being with 4 potato chips (hard to quit) and a handful of popcorn with a movie at night. At least it was light popcorn. Anyway, I can sympathize with single parents trying to feed the kids and stay true to their plan. Hang in there.