Small children do not eat the normal dinner menu. I have the answer.

That is One thinga column with tips for life.

When my kids were little, I did what many parents do on Thanksgiving: I tried to get them to eat traditional foods and failed miserably. Sometimes they would eat a roll (if it was the right thing) and maybe a bite of turkey, but usually no mashed potatoes or stuffing – the horror!

A few years ago, after returning home from a Thanksgiving gathering where my kids had once again eaten very little, I searched online for “Thanksgiving dishes that kids actually eat” and came up with the idea to be inspired Peanuts. In A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Set in 1973, Peppermint Patty invites herself and a few friends to Charlie Brown’s house for the holidays, and Charlie reluctantly throws a last-minute Friendsgiving. To prepare the meal, Snoopy puts on a chef’s hat and organizes the preparation of a snack dinner consisting of buttered toast, popcorn, pretzels and jelly beans. Is it a healthy and balanced meal? No. But will kids actually eat it? Yes.

That evening, I served my kids Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving dinner while they watched the TV show (after all, they were still hungry after not eating much earlier in the day). It used ingredients I already had on hand, only took a few minutes to prepare, and felt like a nice way to unwind after a hectic day of cooking and socializing.

I just came across this food idea when my youngest was just getting out of his picky eating stage. The following year, when my children were 8 and 11, they both ate so much of a traditional Thanksgiving meal that they didn’t need a separate meal. But in recent years, I’ve kept up the tradition of serving Charlie Brown Thanksgiving dinner in the evening while they watch the special. Since they aren’t usually allowed to watch TV during dinner or only eat snacks with meals, it feels like a special holiday treat for them.

If you want to try the Charlie Brown Feast, there are several ways to customize the food. Pinterest-oriented parents could use it to decorate the children’s table Peanuts-Themed decorations and many different types of pretzels could be used. When it comes to accuracy, the special also shows some kind of pink sundae-like dessert in glass bowls on the table while the kids eat their food. The food prep scene doesn’t show the chef (Snoopy) making these desserts, so you can turn them into anything you want: maybe ice cream sundaes or a strawberry nutrient shake that supplements other foods your picky eater eats.” “balance” would have been avoided.

If I had come up with this idea when my children were younger, I would have suggested to my extended family that we serve the Charlie Brown meal to the children at the main Turkey Day event while the adults ate the traditional meal. I suspect some people will react to this idea the same way Peppermint Patty did in the special – by insisting that the food isn’t traditional enough. But Peppermint Patty will come eventually, and with any luck, so will all the skeptics in your family. After all, getting kids to eat a whole plate of snacks at one meal is probably a better tradition than getting them to sit down, take a bite of a roll, and then ask when they can sorry.

Sign up for Slate’s evening newsletter.