Monday, April 11, 2011

being schooled by a picky eater . . .

The picky eating is totally out of control in this house. To the point it drives me mad and to one point it doesn't because lately I have needed some predictability. Will is so picky that I can literally name all the foods he will eat....here it goes. Pretty much any cereal, lucky for me he likes the healthy ones. Blueberries Bananas Apples Raisins/Crasins , Anything that contains peanut butter, PBJ sandwiches, BBQ Baked Lays chips, Goldfish, Pretzels, Tortilla chips with salsa, Grated cheese...must not be pre-grated. ugh! French fries, Chocolate milk, Apple juice, Loves water, which I love. Donuts..yeah i know. Pasta, Yogurt sometimes, Popcorn, Cheese Chips better known as shredded from the block cheese on baked tortilla chips. That is pretty much what he eats. He hates to try new things. The other day at school, jello was brought in for them and when I picked him up, he told me it was yuck! In fact, if I am cooking something and he doesn't like it, he tells me it's too yuck to eat! Does anyone have any helpful hints on how to get kids to try new things? Do you make your child eat what you make and if they don't eat it, that's it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

5 comments:

Christy said...

No offense, but I think it is a first time mommy thing. We just cater to them too much. When Porgie was little, she was sooooo picky. I had to prepare her special meals, because their was no way that she would eat a regular meal with us. I hated it, but didn't know how to change it.

Then we had Izzy (who is a superstar eater). When I seen that he would eat whatever we ate, I stopped making Porgie special meals. I was sick of catering to her every whim. At first she wouldn't eat dinner, but would beg for snacks about an hour later. So we made a rule that she couldn't have any snacks until she ate her whole dinner. Some nights she went to bed without eating anything. It was hard on all of us. But eventually things changed. She is nearly five now, and she eats whatever I cook. If she doesn't want to eat it, she goes to bed hungry (which rarely ever happens anymore).

I am not so strict at breakfast and lunch. I let the kids choose their own breakfast (cereal, waffles, oatmeal, or yogurt). I keep lunch very easy and very kid friendly (cheese quesadillas, mac n' cheese, pizza, etc.). I used to let the kids choose what we were going to have for lunch, but that was more trouble than it was worth. Now I make all the decisions. And I menu plan dinner, so that it entirely up to me too.

Sorry for this long ass comment, but I struggle for so long with this issue. Good luck friend!

Anonymous said...

Sammy eats what we are having.. With the only exception being if we are going somewhere for a formal sit down dinner (read my parents house for a holiday dinner) I will bring along a few things I know he will like just so he wont be starving.

Callie said...

Our girls are picky, too. I've found success with my four year old lately because we can say, "You aren't getting 'X' if you don't eat your fruit or veggies." I've also found that getting rid of the afternoon snack helps a lot with dinner.

Anonymous said...

Don't fret too much. My kids weren't super picky, but were not big eaters at all. Now - they will eat just about anything and more of it than ever.

I bet he outgrows it - just keep offering. I always tell my kids to try it if they don't like it they can spit it out. Seems to get them to at least try 1/2 of the time.

Clare said...

i totally had this problem with bradley too. slowly over time it has gotten better. i do make him have what we are having. last night was salmon. he didn't eat it, but he had the rice and potato sides. he told us later that he was hungry and i told him too bad. in the beginning i did a lot of bribing though, if you try x number of bites than you can have this desert. i have stopped that, but i do usually always make him try at least three bites of whatever it is. he would go to time out a lot in the beginning and there was a lot of crying. but i will say he will eat a lot of things. i have some friends with four year old that still only eat chx nuggets/fish sticks. so i will tell you the earlier you start the better.

as soon as i got bradley potty trained i figured if i can do that, i can get him to eat better. it has taken almost 1 1/2 years of being consistent. but now he is great about it. and he will eat a lot more, and now more than some of his buddies. so try it and see!