[amouse]

my kids have been drilled about healthy food and my son 7 is very interested in healthy food .. hes asks if things are healthy before he eats it .. My daughter in a pain. we are going through a veggie stand off at the moment .. she just wont eat her veggies.. and she used to love them.. so im guessing its just a faze.. however i still put them on her plate and still get her to have at least one but of every veg on her plate.. she is 3 .. lol There are certain veggies she will eat staraight away like broccolli.. or tomato or mushrooms .. but atm that is kinda it.. oh and she would eat a whole conitnental cucumber if i let her.. she loves cucumber .. its her favorite food.. The thing is Leah is allergic to food additives so fresh food is kinda all i can offer her.. so she doesnt have a choice.. nothing else is offered if she doesnt eat them.. But she is always the same if she not eating her veg she will eat her meat.. if she is not eating her meat she will eat her veg.. lol .. I seem to think myabe she is not growing much at the moment and there for is noit so hungry .. but who knows.. she just being a 3 year old..

ok im not 30 something so i dont belong here but any post about kids i gotta get in on .. i find it very interesting sorry for barging in im 27 .. lol

[FluffyK]

It's hard to break kids' eating habits, so if you have a super picky eater, then you have a battle ahead of you. I have one that won't eat "mushy" things like soups or tomatoes, but that's about it. For the most part, I've always fed my kids healthy foods like cauliflower, I put spinach in EVERYTHING I can stuff it into (meatloaf, lasagne, pizza, etc.). I feed them what I eat, and since I do SB and am limiting my carbs, I often make a carb for them as well as my two vegetables.

One thing that I do allow is use of condiments to cover things: soy sauce, worchester, ranch dressing, ketchup. I have taught them the trick of putting the "yummy" food on the same forkful as the "yucky" food (I do this as I hate chicken breast), and they always have to taste one taste of everything on the table, even if they've had it before. I literally cut up ONE bite.

I don't cook dessert every night, nor do I have sweets in the house very often to tempt me.

I have four kids, so cooking to appeal to each of them would be a nightmare. They have just come to learn that there will be some meals they don't love, so they have to eat enough to get them through to the next morning. If they refuse, they don't eat. Having one inadequate meal every now and then is not going to harm them.

[FluffyK]

I forgot to mention that my kids are also getting old enough that I am encouraging them to cook themselves. Every now and then when there is something they REALLY hate, one of the older ones (9 and 11) will ask if it's OK for them to cook themselves something else. Some days I let them, some days I don't. It all depends on schedule and what I am serving and what they choose as an alternate. I use that as a learning lesson - they understand how much work goes into making themselves something AND cleaning up after it, PLUS I make them have all the food groups in it.

[Marathon Mom]

Hmm... I don't feel as though my children are eating enough if they just eat 'salad'. I feell like they need to have salad along w/ protein and carb/fruit with their meal as well in order for it to be balanced. I primarily eat dinner as my lightest meal...

[FluffyK]

Throw some cheese or turkey on that salad, some dried cranberries, and serve with some croutons or crackers. Then you've got it all.

[scoobie74]

My fiance and I decided that with our son, that he is going to eat what we eat and if he does not want it, then we are not making anymore. My fiance grew up that way and he is not really picky. We dont our son growing up on convient foods that many of our friends feed their kids (chicken nuggets, fish sticks, fries, corndogs, hotdogs, mac and cheese -- pretty much anything that you through in the oven for a few minutes or that comes in a box and takes 5-10 minutes to make). My son is 9 1/2 months old and trying table foods. With the weather getting nice, I am going home from work, putting chicken or ham in the oven, or putting the food in the crock pot before I go to work so that we can enjoy a family walk when I get home from work. Or we will go for a walk and grill out once we get home. I am even cooking some of the food ahead of time on the weekends so we can enjoy our family time.

[lottafun]

We do the same, half the time I fix them something they like. Something nutritious, but not alot of work.

I can't stand the fighting and upset at the dinner table just because they don't like chicken & asparagus or curry or whatever is being served.

My son is very picky & daughter isn't too bad, she will venture out.

[momof4girls]

I refuse to cook more then one meal, so they eat whatever I make. They actually love veggies and fruit so it is never a problem. They are little vaccums.

[fightingtolose]

I am lucky with my kids. They have always liked fruits and vegtables. They actually ask for salad if we go out to dinner. There are a few things I have to be careful with because my daughter can have a touchy stomach sometimes. If I make something with curry powder in it, I have to take some out for her before I put the curry powder in it. She and curry powder don't agree. She is also that way with too much sour cream, cream cheese, and ricotta cheese. So if I make something like Lasagna, I have to really watch the amounts I use. The only vegtables they don't like are brussel sprouts and asparagus. If I make those, I make sure to make them some green beans.

Dawn

[shantroy]

Growing up, I almost always ate what my parents ate. There were a few exceptions (roasted ham - even the smell of it in the oven will make me throw up, and shell fish - I never liked it and it turns out that I have a mild allergy to it). I am a very unpicky eater. I've eaten everything from grasshopper, guinne pig, horse, dog, rabbit. Rule in our house was you don't like it go to bed hungry or make something else.

What really made me love to try new food was cooking. Starting in first grade I would "cook" one night a week. I would go through the cookbooks with my mom and choose a recipe. We'd go shopping for the ingrediants and make it together. It was a great learning experice. My mom and I would discuss health recipes, and making a balanced dinenr. I loved that I had the option to make whatever I wanted. I can remeber being so proud when we'd sit down to a dinner that I'd made. By the time I was in grade 8 or 9 I was making an entire Sunday night dinner almost all by myself. Sometimes it would turn out others not so much. But I always had fun and I learned alot. I'm an very good and adventurous cook (it amazes my friends how I can whip up a seemingly "gourmet" dinner in 20mins.)

And to this day, my fav thing to do with my mom is cook. Every other month we get together and make a whole bunch of food to put in the freezer. We'll spend the day make huges amounts of 4 or 5 dishes. It's our time together and I love it.

[Nori71]

I have 2 girls - ages 3 & 4. Obviously at these ages I'm in 100% control of what they eat, but I like to give them choices. I let them choose what they want for breakfast and lunch - like give them a choice of 2 things. Granola with yogurt or egg and toast, for example. This morning they both opted for cheese and tomato sandwiches and carrot sticks. Sounded like lunch to me, but that's what they wanted and they see me eating non-traditional meals sometimes. My 4 yo has always eaten and enjoyed whatever we are eating - from the time she started eating I would put whatever we were having through a food mill and feed her that. Lucky for her, she takes after DH in that she doesn't have a sweet tooth and doesn't like candy or many desserts. My 3 yo is another story!! She had FTT (failure to thrive) for months when she was younger and we had to force feed her (sometimes via tube) and eating was always a TERRIBLY traumatic time for her and us. She has outgrown this phase and is very healthy now - lean, but healthy. She is more picky by nature I suppose, and eats very small amounts. She came by her sweet tooth honestly! Like her mother, she'll do almost anything for chocolate! Over all I'm happy with they way they eat - they both love veggies and fruits (esp salad, bell peppers and grapes!) and I hope they are learning good food choices for life. I know they'll have their battles though. I grew up eating very healthy at home but hot lunches at school and as soon as I could, started eating fast food and candy and other junk. Exercise wasn't important at all in my family growing up though. Hopefully my girls will understand the importance of it.

[Lizzard]

I felt like -- okay, I know, blaming the ol' parents, poor things -- I really got the impression as a kid that fruits and vegetables were horrible and something you had to be begged or bribed to eat. Lots of "you never eat any fresh fruit!" and then they would satisfy my appetite with pigs in a blanket and greasy tater tots, loads of em.

I was (am) terrified that my kids are going to have my unhealthy relationship with food. I read some books, and my favorite was How to Get Your Kid to Eat: But Not Too Much. Basically, the theory is that it's the parents' job to put healthy food in front of their child, and it's the child's job to decide what and how much they're going to eat. I know it sounds really laissez-faire. It is, but it's also sort of the reverse psychology/zen approach.

I literally put a healthy meal in front of them (usually with some easy extras like olives or carrot sticks in addition to the family meal), and keep my mouth shut. And the amazing thing is, they seem to be liking food that is actually healthy. Whoah.

I think this strategy sort of fits their "independent" personalities, too. Once my MIL tried to get them to eat some beets, and seriously, they still won't touch beets. It's like I can see their brains going: oh, if someone has to try to get me to eat this and bribe me, it must be naaasty.

They don't eat everything by any stretch. Some foods have to show up 10 times on their plates before they'll try it. Sometimes they won't touch something that took me an hour to make! I always offer them plain whole wheat bread, which is tolerable but not something they love, as a back up if they don't like what we're eating. Oh, and I usually only put a little on their plates of whatever is new or naaaasty or "that green stuff makes me throw up." The only rule is they have to keep it on their plates (and hopefully remember next time that just having it on their plates didn't kill them, maybe it's not that horrible).

One thing I've definitely learned is, once they like a food, don't forget to keep giving it to them, or they'll sort of forget they like it. They used to love tomatoes, and now after a long winter with bad-looking tomatoes in the grocery store, they haven't had them in a while. Mistake. Must start all over. (I keep saying "they" because the 2-year old almost always follows the 5-year old's lead.)

But really, it's very stress free for me. Here's your dinner, I'm out. I'll be over here enjoying mine. If you don't like it, eat your bread and drink your milk. Radical alert: I don't even praise them for eating the healthy foods. Does anybody else do that? We talk about what has a lot of nutrients, or we talk about the different vitamins, but if I praise them, they seem sort of programmed to not like it as much. Complicated child psychology stuff, I guess.

In any case, I'm hoping this will make them feel like they're in charge and in control of their mouths and bodies. That appeals to me because I feel like I learned how to be out of control.

Oh, and about dessert. They both had chocolate Easter bunnies the size of their heads. But more often, it'll be the random (so it's not something they expect) parfait of fresh berries with a huge dollop of whipped cream and some sprinkles. I'll pop it out unceremoniously an hour after dinner, and I try not to attach it to anything: it comes if you've been good, or not, or how much you've eaten at dinner. No strings attached, it's just food. I'm kind of sensitive about using food as a reward, I guess. I obviously got the message somewhere down the line that I should reward and/or soothe myself with enormous amounts of chocolate cake.

Kids are so different, though. I certainly wouldn't want to suggest this would work for everyone, or even the majority. What works for one family won't work for another with every parenting thing in my opinion, but I just thought I'd share this long dissertation since the issue is so important to me.

Anyone else do this? If you did through early childhood, how did things change when they got older?

Man, I've babbled on so long I forget if I answered the original post, but probably after all this!

[mamachick76]

i dont feed my son different meals than me. i make meals that i know he is willing to eat too. i do not believe in making special meals just for him.