As parents, we want the best for our kids: the best education, best health, best nutrition and more. Yet somehow in our striving for the best, we often, as the old expression goes, lose sight of the forest for the trees.

This is particularly true for food and nutrition. From the time our children are born, it's our job to feed them, and sometimes this job can seem out of control.

As a parent, one of the best pieces of advice regarding my kids and their eating was this...don't look at and judge what your child eats at each meal or each day, but rather look at their eating over the course of a week.

This allowed me to not obsess over each meal. Yes, we put out healthy foods with a variety of colors; we don't struggle with our kids to make sure they eat everything. In fact, my daughter will have smaller meals sometimes and larger meals at others. She eats based on her hunger, not what mom and dad feel she should be eating.

This also takes away a lot of the "guilt factor" that parents sometimes feel if the meal prep, once in a while, involves just a microwave. So maybe this will help you and your kids, as you stare down a meal that just won't "take," think about the last week and move on.