If you are a mom chances are you have at least one picky eater. My cousin’s son will only eat ham, turkey, chicken nuggets, and anything sweet. The funny thing is that she doesn’t allow him to have sodas or tea because they are for adults but ice cream for breakfast is allowed because that is what he will eat. The first morning I had to take him to school for her and she told me that was his breakfast all I could think was WOW!
Actually it made me feel pretty great because my kids eat a better variety of things. It was like a gold star in the feeding category! Getting them to eat all of those things has not always been easy. Most of the tips I actually got from Karen Le Billon’s French Kids Eat Everything. It is an amazing book and really shows the cultural differences in how kids eat. I can say that when my in-laws come to visit their children all eat whatever with out so much as a whine. So how do you plan a meal with a picky eater. here is how I mange it: I don’t! We use the three-time method where if after three times trying it (on different nights) then we move on. Nothing is forced but the kids must try everything at least three times before they decide they don’t like it.
Now we don’t do the full on French style of cooking and such. We do on occasion have “kid foods” and there is the occasional trip to a fast food restaurant. Very occasional as I have a really hard time digesting fast food and become very sick afterwards. My kids didn’t grow up eating chicken nuggets and please don’t think I am knocking anyone because I do give them sodas (not a ton.) I have a picky eater who has to have salsa on just about anything before she will eat it and since we always have salsa on hand I am okay with that. She hates plain rice but if I add it veggies she loves it. So we don’t often have just plain rice and on the rare occasion that we do I don’t out any on her plate. I simply double up her veggies or something else.
How do you deal with picky eaters?
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My son is a picky eater. Even as a bay he wouldn’t eat eggs or cheese or just about anything I put in front of him. He was so picky I had to give him protein drinks just to make sure he was getting all the nutrients he needed.
My sister had to do that with her youngest daughter as well.
My entire family could really be considered picky. My husband and older daughter prefer pasta and won’t eat salads/lettuce. The younger daughter doesn’t like spaghetti or steak, but she’ll eat them anyway ( she’s my good girl). We all love rice dishes and I am always on the lookout for new dishes to try. They surprise me on what they’ll try though. I had a review of a meal kit that was Indian food. We made curried chicken and rice. They DEVOURED every but and asked me to make it again sometime. Having picky eaters has made me become very creative. We also like to add cheese to just about everything.
It is hard when they won’t eat things but with our must try rule it helps. They know that if they try it three times and don’t it then I will never ask them to try it again.