Children and food

rtrels

You can make veggies pretty interesting for everyone if you have a look around for recipes. If you struggle just grate the crap out of it and hide them in everything not veggie looking (spag, lasagna, fritters, hash...) Cook bigger batches of things they do like on the nights you cook those things and freeze it for nights when you want something they don't like so your not doing two meals...its reheat and done.

rtrels

crosbylee wrote: »

I have been cooking more lately, but I have a very picky eater. Most of it is due to her taste for food being messed up by her chemo medciations. I am hoping that once we are done with all the chemo, around June of this year, that her taste buds will be more adventurous and she will try more. I do encourage her to try at least one bite of new foods, but sometimes things I think she will love, she turns her nose up. She basically lives off cereal, cheese, peanut butter and biscuits.

My son had ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukaemia) diagnosed just before his second birthday. He ate nuggets and chicken soup for three years. He is now 10. Cancer free and eats everything and plenty of it. Light at the end of the tunnel
I wish you and your family All the best, much happiness and good health for the future!

Liftng4Lis

We always had a rule, where they would at least try it, (fortunately my kids eat everything). I think small changes are best.

randomtai

GiveMeCoffee wrote: »

Have you made these changes quickly?

Just like we need to make small changes, kids need that as well. Introducing them to new things is great but don't overwhelm them and definitely give options.

This.

4bettermenow

mkakids wrote: »

I give my kids a portion on the smaller size of reasonable for their age. If they finish everything given, they can have a piece of fruit or pbj. They dont have to eat it if they dont want to.....but if they choose not too, they dont get anything else.

This...we do this and it works well for our 9 & 7 year old. I also second the learn how they like their veggies cooked. My oldest hates cooked carrots but will,happily eat a handful of raw baby carrots. And if I know from experience it is something they will turn down, they do need to try it, but can move on if they hate it. I've beee pleasantly surprised at some of the things they like. Like, they don't want homemade Mac and cheese, but they will wolf down my husbands blue cheese burgers with grilled pineapple. Go figure. Lol

GiveMeCoffee

The other thing I did when my kids were younger was to always keep fresh cut up veggies within easy reach for them, my youngest was a picker and she loved it. Since she didn't have to ask or told she had to eat them, it made it easier than a battle at dinner.

crosbylee

rtrels wrote: »

crosbylee wrote: »

I have been cooking more lately, but I have a very picky eater. Most of it is due to her taste for food being messed up by her chemo medciations. I am hoping that once we are done with all the chemo, around June of this year, that her taste buds will be more adventurous and she will try more. I do encourage her to try at least one bite of new foods, but sometimes things I think she will love, she turns her nose up. She basically lives off cereal, cheese, peanut butter and biscuits.

My son had ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukaemia) diagnosed just before his second birthday. He ate nuggets and chicken soup for three years. He is now 10. Cancer free and eats everything and plenty of it. Light at the end of the tunnel
I wish you and your family All the best, much happiness and good health for the future!

Thanks for the support. My daughter has ALL also. She was 2 1/2 when we were diagnosed. She is sailing through other than the not eating much. Good to know there is hope for a more varied diet ahead!

Amanda4change

I usually end up making two if not three different meals every night. One for me (usually using parts from the others, like taco night for the family is taco salad night for me) and one or two for the kids depending on what I make that night. I have one kid who is a vegetarian (not wholly by choice meat makes her vomit), two of my 3 kids have milk protein allergies, while one of those and the other kid are lactose intolerant. I also have one child (she's 14) who on a dare from her friends drank 8 ounces of mexican hot sauce which burned a hole in her stomach (she had to have the ulcer surgically closed) who is severely limited on what she can eat without her stomach lining becoming inflamed. Ironically the easiest of all my kids to feed is my 4 year old, who if he can help cook will eat anything with the exception of fish (he also can't have dairy).

My suggestion is get them to help cook, they will be more likely to try the foods. Secondly don't make food a battle. Its there they can eat it or not, but they should at least try it. Ive found over the years with my kids to pick my battles, food just isn't something that I am going to fight them over.

Pandapotato

I expect my 7 yr old to eat a balanced meal, but I quite frequently hand her a plate that is different than what my husband and I are eating. I grew up in a family of 5 and was the only picky eater...and I was often hungry. We had school lunches and I often ate nothing. They forced us to take milk cartons and mine went into the garbage can every day. It sucked. So I take her tastes into account. She doesn't like spaghetti sauce so I make the noodles and the meat and put some on her plate before mixing in the sauce. Or I'll do chicken stir fry + brown rice and put it together on her plate, but pick out mushrooms and asparagus so she's just getting the carrots and broccoli
+ .
We do a lot of steamer vegetables (the bags you buy frozen and microwave for 5 minutes) and I'm sure to buy the mixes she likes, or if I do the California mix, pick out the cauliflower for my plate.

Doesn't bother me any, is barely any work, and we're only a family of three so she's 1/3 of that and I can take that into consideration. But if I had 2 or 3 kids or more who each wanted separate meals, that'd be different!

Uh, that's probably not helpful to you, OP-- my suggestion as far as veggies is to do the frozen steamer mixes and find ones your kids like! Or if one kid is pickier about the cooked veggies, just have some raw stuff like carrots to toss on his plate.

phoenixbaby2014

Thanx for all the replies they generally eat good healthy food but I was widening the variety of veg we eat. Eldest is fine he will eat all the veg in the house lol amount of times I wanted to make a salad and find out there's nothing to make it with. Annoying but I won't complain. The other three are terribly picky but what I have started doing is puting healthy snacks on the coffee table like veg they regularly complain about in they have been eating them since Friday mind you.
One tried then the rest followed.
Result

pollypocket1021

My kids HATE to eat. At least one is allergic to corn (not life-threatening). If he eats anything with corn, he feels very sick, so he learned at a young age that he feels better if he starves himself.

The thing that has helped is teaching them about nutrition. Really teaching them and not watering things down. At 5, my daughter knows she needs carbs, protein, and fat. She knows which foods contain those macros ad she is responsible for choosing foods to meet her nutritional needs.

My only hard and fast rule is adequate caloric intake to stay alive, but the kids go beyond that when they have the education and control.

melitosis

My stepson is a picky eater, so his choice is to eat what we made or make something else for himself. We always give him a plate and don't force him to eat it, but also won't indulge irrational behaviour by making anything else. He's a bit older (11 years) so he can make his own soup and some other basic foods. What's weird is something he will "hate" for weeks, he will suddenly one day get excited about. Then again, he is actually disappointed whenever we order pizza, so he doesn't exactly have the eating habits of a typical kid.

LightingChick

Kids will grow to hate anything they are forced to eat, period.

We have a one bite trial. If they taste it and still don't like it, I'm okay with that. Just give it a try. And make sure they have some flexibility in choosing things. I like some things and not others, so why can't they?

I'm not a pushover parent, but I don't want to make food something they feel they have no control over. I make them tell me what they don't like about it, and we usually have a discussion. Sometimes it's not flavor, it's consistency so keep that in mind too. Keep serving things, and you'll hit on what does work for you guys.

I found out that if I give my 7 year old any veggie with a little bit of ranch on the side, he'll eat anything! My daughter prefers hummus with her veggies and will try about all of them. Explore things together and you may find things you both like and dislike.

PammieSuzyQ

phoenixbaby2014 wrote: »

Thanx for all the replies they generally eat good healthy food but I was widening the variety of veg we eat. Eldest is fine he will eat all the veg in the house lol amount of times I wanted to make a salad and find out there's nothing to make it with. Annoying but I won't complain. The other three are terribly picky but what I have started doing is puting healthy snacks on the coffee table like veg they regularly complain about in they have been eating them since Friday mind you.
One tried then the rest followed.
Result

Sounds like you are working your way though it. Good for you! So many parents these days won't keep trying simply for the whining that ensues. I applaud any parent who keeps working it!

Nothing truly worthwhile ever came easily. 20 or 30 years from now your children will thank you as they raise their own the same way.