You let your kids eat what??

twisted88

We ate my parent's meals or we had the option of making our own peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We could then clean up after ourselves. This option was generally way less appealling then whatever my parent's made.

^This

My mom would let me make a pb & j if I didn't want to eat what she made, or else I had to wait until the next meal. After making my own pb & j a few times, I stopped being so picky and ate what she made. She also insisted on me eating a "no thank you helping" of foods I didn't like.

We didn't eat healthy foods all the time, and it wasn't a matter of cost most of the time, my mom just knew better than to make 3 different meals for the family. (My dad is and was a vegetarian, while my mother and I weren't so she already had to substitute some things for him on occasion. And yes I have quite a few favorite vegetarian dishes that I grew up with and that I would take over certain meat items given my mood, etc.)

Once I got older, if I wanted something else I had to make it myself and clean up after cooking. In return I do the same back to them since I'm cooking for my parents most of the time now-a-days. They grumble with my food choices at times, but since I contribute to groceries for my dishes (and at times theirs) and because they don't have to cook they don't complain as much now.

Now I'm not a picky eater (in my mind at least). I try new things often and there are very few things I dislike enough to pick out and/or request (at a restuarant) not to be included in my meal.

*Edit: I'm not a parent either, just adding my two cent because I do cook for other people often and can relate.

**Edit 2: Because of the pb & j sandwich rule I won't eat them for 6 or 7 years. I only got back into it about 5 years ago when I needed to make a quick lunch. (I still liked the peanut butter and bread, just not together with/ or without jelly/jam.)

JanSmelly

You can take it or leave it, but I am no making something different for each person in the family. I have a set of newly turned 4 year-old twins and a 20 month old and they have always eaten what I have made starting at 6 months.

VanillaBone

Eat it or leave it, those are the choices.
Plus I think it's hilarious to see my kids order menudo, or lengua, or squid salad when we go out, so I serve wierd stuff like that at home. I make everybody's plates, restaraunt-style, and the rule is if you want seconds of anything, you have to clean the plate to prove you're actually hungry for it, and not just wanting to munch. Sometimes it's worth it, sometimes it's not.

It's worked well so far; I have five stringy kids who know what they like, and know how much they have to eat to last until breakfast.I don't force them to eat anything unless they start whining about how gross it is; If that happens they have to eat one bite...But now that I think about it, it's been years since any of them has said anything rude about my cooking,

modernmom70

I am not a short order cook and I do have one picky eater. Dinner is take it or leave it in my house. And I don't eat processed foods, so I don't feed it to my kids. I want them to grow up with good eating habits, which means fresh real food. Treats every once in awhile is fine. But I also don't believe that a kid needs a treat in their lunch box...a nice piece of fruit is the treat.
I make homemade baked chicken fingers/nuggets and such which the kids love!

Shanna_Inc86

wowsers....was in a work meeting and just got back...bout to read all the responses!

jennifer52484

I feel like i just got a ton of parenting advice lol. I don't have kids but someday would like to and now I am ready to tackle the food situation when or if it occurs lol. Thanks!!

carolann_22

My one son will eat anything and my other son eats like five foods total. And you can't make him eat it, he'd rather starve. It's a mental block for him, he starts sweating, heart pounds, anxiety, if he even THINKS he has to try a new food. And not just healthy food, he won't try new "junk" or yummy food, either. He threw up a piece of cinnamon roll that I made him try. He never eats dinner, because I don't cook him special meals anymore (did until 5, after 5 I told him he was a big boy and had to eat what was ont he table), but I usually have fruit with dinner so he will eat that and he's not going to bed with a totally empty stomach.

But if there was no fruit, he still wouldn't eat - no amount of threats, bribes or consequences will move him to eat. Eventually he will get over the mental aspect of it, I think - hoping when he has friends who try things or eat things and there's no pressure, he'll be willing to try it.

Im_NotPerfect

Don't get to upset at 5 they are learning finally to try new things and decide if they like something or not I love spinich & beets my hubby dose not he likes spicy food and radishes I don't there is nothing wrong with people not liking somehting. As for my kids I am happy if I can get them to eat anything. another example my 4 year old son hates green beans I mean he will try them chew them and gag trying to swallow them I do not think this is healty so I don't force the issue. good luck

My son is the same way with other foods. We always make him try a bite. If he truly can not eat it (i.e. gags on it) we don't make him eat it, obviously. We can tell the difference though if it's something he likes but just doesn't want to eat it or something he truly can not tolerate. A lot of the time he convinces himself that he doesn't like it before even trying it and brings on the gag.

erogers85

I cook all of our meals and I always have so my kids don't really know to beg for processed stuff. They have sweets on occasion but almost all the sweets are home baked treats. My four year old's favorite food is marinated roasted tofu, my 2.5 year old will pick a clementine over any other snack available and my 14 month old cries bitter tears if I don't spoon feed him at least 1/5 of my kale smoothie in the morning! I've also realized that they are way more likely to eat well seasoned foods like roasted cauliflower with paprika and sea salt instead of steamed plain cauliflower- I think kids actually love good flavor and the salt in processed food mimics what they don't always find in "health food"

Now if they go to a birthday party and there are cheetoes and kool-aid there do they turn their noses up at them? No way! But they also never ask me for chips or anything other than milk or water because they know we don't keep that kind of stuff in the house.

Shanna_Inc86

I appreciate everyone's opinions, stories, suggestions and comments.

Lemme just add that I'm a single mom and it's just me and my daughter I buy for...so groceries aren't much anyways. I've been switching more of her food over but when I moved home for a few months it all went to heck b/c my Mom has so much junk food and lets my daughter eat whatever. I don't buy junk food usually.

Breakfast is usually eggs & toast OR Life Cereal

Lunch is eaten at daycare/preschool

Dinner: We're working on it lol

And to add....I'm a recovering junk food addict lol
She will go to town on a veggie and fruit platter and will pick those over junk food thankfully
Her dad feeds her crap though which I have to hear about but she isn't allowed soda at my house, except when she had a belly ache. Usually I only have whole wheat noodles in the house. And she does like boca burgers and fish. I'm working on the tofu still lol

LauraHasABabyJack

Dinner at our house is eat or don't eat. If you have a complaint, you are welcome to take over cooking duties from me.
My son is 2 and eats pretty much anything, unless its super spicy. We love ice cream and cookies, but don't have them often and even if we do he doesn't always want them. Sometimes dinner is mac and cheese- homemade cause I can't stand the stuff out of the box. Sometimes its fast food. Usually its something healthy. He loves fish and turkey, chicken is hit or miss, we don't eat much beef and little to no pork, beans are always a win. Sometimes he just eats ketchup off a spoon :laugh: but I had to have ketchup drowning everything until I was 15 so I'm not going to harp on that. I can't think of any veggies he won't eat, especially if they are raw. I'm not willing to force him to eat anything. My husband and I aren't big fruit eaters but I always make sure he gets some on his plate because typically he will eat it even if he decides he doesn't want the other food.
For lunch and breakfast he has more control and can choose what he wants. I don't have anything in the house he shouldn't be eating (just things he shouldn't drink lol) He helps me pick out foods at the store; I've had many times where I have to buy extra fruit and veggies because he'll pull it off the rack and take a bite out of it! His current daily demand is bell pepper strips and clemintine oranges.

pdworkman

I don't make more than one meal. My son eats what I make.

That said, hubby does treat him to chips and pop and other things that I wouldn't buy him.

However, because of our dietary restrictions, there is no commercial pizza, pasta, lunchables, etc. Getting gluten-free bread or daiya cheese to have for lunch is a treat. Anything else, mom has to make from scratch (and although I can have the daiya cheese, I can't eat the gluten-free bread!)

ColCul

I have one picky one and one who will eat just about anything put in front of her. Go figure, I raised and fed them the same way.

I try to get them to help meal plan with me so that they are choosing the foods they like to put on our menu. If it is something I choose not to eat, then I try to keep my meal as close as possible. (examples: sheppard's pie for them, sheppard's pie made with lentils and mushrooms for me, pizza for them, vegetarian tortilla pizza for me).

On their activity nights, they will eat something more kid like such as grilled cheese sandwiches and my husband and I eat later, something more to our palate. I always make a veggie tray to put out while everyone is waiting for supper. That way, at least I know they got their veggies.

roseemb

I rarely eat with my daughter, because she eats right before we head off to the gym. However, when we sit together at a meal, I don't cook something different for her. Since I prepare her food before mine, I will usually make her something that I know she'll eat - unless we are eating leftovers that day. However, if she doesn't like what is being served, she doesn't eat. That usually makes her gulp at least enough down to keep her satiated until her next meal. If it si dinner, and she complains of hunger later, she's allowed to have some milk. But - like many other posters say - I'm not a short order cook either!

mmw1978

I always try to make one thing every night that my little guy will eat, but then he also has to eat one or two bites of a veggie and one or two bites of meat. We only make him a completely special meal if we're having something he can't eat (spicy grilled chicken with general tso's sauce) or most kids won't eat (brats and sauerkraut).

We made him a chart of his daily chores. He's only 3 so his chart is pretty basic - eat dinner, feed cat, brush teeth, clean room, no time outs, etc. Now he eats his dinner much easier, because he doesn't get a sticker if he doesn't. He also can't have any treats after dinner (sugar free pudding, a pouch of fruit snacks, etc). He's pretty reward motivated (he loves his new monster truck when he fills out the chart at the end of the week), so that works for us. Not every little kid cares about that stuff, though.

I think you have to try to get them to eat the good things, but you also don't want to make meal times something they start to dread. If your little one eats good the rest of the day (our guy eats like champ at daycare, fruit, veggies, meat, milk), then you can be a little more relaxed at home. They can be kind of tired and cranky by the time dinner is served and that can make it worse. (My son ate stuff for lunch at a local buffet Saturday that he won't touch at home for dinner during the week, go figure).

Bassafrass80

If I didn't eat what my mother gave me she would serve it up to me for my next meal. I'm not a parent, so I'm probably going to get flamed here, but when did parents start pandering to kids like this? I'm just curious, did the parents of this generation do that? Mine didn't and certainly the previous generation couldn't afford to.

Love this...I agree completely. I am a single mom with a 4 year old and we have not eaten fast food in about 3 months. We eat healthy. My child is FAR from overweight. She goes out with me when I go for walks and she keeps active. She knows that she has to eat what she is served or else she will be hungry. I don't intentionally make things she dislikes...she likes pretty much the same things I do and asks for veggies with every meal. I always make her try a new food to see if she likes it or not. 9 times out of ten, she will like it.

reshapemariah21

This reminds me of a video that a dad posted on youtube they played it on Tosh.0 on comedy central (which I avoid watching due to my weird fear of vomit and he plays A LOT of it.. just gross.), of his child eating a few green beans just to get him to try it... This kid SPEWED all over the table and in his bowl.. It was sick.
Not in a good way. Blech. I'd rather my child not eat it than vomit all over my table. :sick:

VanillaBone

Oh, and one more thing...I think the worst thing you can do to your kids is give food more importance than it deserves.
Obsessing in front of them about bad foods and good foods, or teaching them that there's some kind of moral superiority in eating unprocessed food...I don't think that's mentally healthy. Teach them that healthy food is tasty, but don't flip out if they like fried, frozen, genetically engineered dinosaur nuggets, either. Just limit their access to it.

We were having a 'picnic' that consisted of Happy Meals in the park awhile back, and this eight or nine year-old came up and started to lecture us about how terrible MacDonalds food was. About how he only ate vegetarian, whole foods. God, he went on and ooooooon about it! If it had been my kid, I would have smacked him. Since he wasn't, I told him that he was being very judgmental, and it wasn't right to try to make people feel bad because they were different from him.

Heh heh. I could see the little wheels in his head turning, trying to figure out if it was worse to be judgemental or unhealthy...He shut his mouth and went away.

Darn kids. Get off my lawn.

AlayshaJ

My daughter eats if I tell her to eat. Doesn't matter what it is. She likes pretty much everything but babybell cheese and processed crap. She is the only two year old I know that will eat onions. She likes healthy, clean food thank goodness. I've never kept junk food in the house, so she was born into healthy eating which helps, i'm assuming. When i was little if you didn't eat your food, you had it for the next meal, I was also raised with clean eating due to lack of money and an awesome grandmother who home made everything and taught me how to as well. (Eight people lived in our house)

darylinny

I always thought I would make my kids eat what I ate just like my mother, but I was so wrong!!! LOL. As a matter of fact, my husband is the primary "chef" at dinner time and he's on this site too, so most of the time we have healthy meals. That said she still loves her chicken fingers and french fries!! But I have found healthier alternatives for lots of her favorite foods and so far she loves them!

Clarecbear82

Ok I'm a mean mum but my oldest used to eat anything until she hit four then she got really fussy and would eat nothing but plain bread/pasta and chicken nuggets. I always put other food infront of her but she just made such a fuss she put my younger two off their dinner. So finally I got to breaking point (this January) as I found out she ate anything round her friends and told her if she wouldn't eat my food she could have school lunches instead (her biggest nightmare). So I went into school the next day put her name down for them. Now she's eating roast dinners, vegetable noodles, salads, lamb curries and loads of other things and she absolutely loves them.

So now I give the boys cooked food for lunch and they all have a sandwich or some other type of cold meal for dinner and the best part is she now eats what I cook at the weekends aswell.

yoovie

my parents made me eat soap.

Marll

If I didn't eat what my mother gave me she would serve it up to me for my next meal. I'm not a parent, so I'm probably going to get flamed here, but when did parents start pandering to kids like this? I'm just curious, did the parents of this generation do that? Mine didn't and certainly the previous generation couldn't afford to.

This. I had to break my wife of the habbit of making our 2 year old (who was pretty picky) special dinners. He eats what we eat or gets nothing. I will not pander to a child and go through extra effort to make something else. This is what's for dinner/breakfast/lunch. Guess what, after about a week of picking at his food, crying, whining and being a PITA he now eats pretty much anything I put in front of him without issues. Kids that get to pick and choose what they will or will not eat are just spoiled IMO.

Also anyone that thinks that their child HAS to eat, and will starve before they will eat because they are stubborn has obviously never actually been hungry themselves.

Dilfster

my parents made me eat soap.

one of my teachers used to do that to us. lol you brought back memories.

yoovie

but I didnt have to wear padding and helmets and I could eat any fish I caught as well as mudpies.

taylmarie

We have tried something that worked really well in this area :happy: :

We have a 5 year old as well and it can be quite hard. When I cook, we all eat the same thing, just different portions. He has to try everything. If he says he doesn't like it we ask him to eat a little and then we revisit it a week or two later. I nearly had a heart attack when he asked me for a salad the other day! A few months ago that would have never happened, but we kept serving him salad and having him eat a little and eventually he decided he liked it. If I just stop serving things he said he didn't like, he would be missing a lot of nutritious things from his diet. I find it helps as well if I include him in planning dinner, food shopping and cooking. He gets excited, "oh, these look healthy mom" or "we did good mom". And while he is doing great; if it were up to him we'd be eating chicken nuggets, pad thai and pb&j every night!

Everyone is different, but for me, the days or preparing a different meal for my child ended around his 4th birthday.

jackpotclown

my parents made me eat soap.

That's because you were bad

My parents made us finish whatever was on our frickin plate, if you didn't, you sat there until you did....after a few cold meals we learned to finish quickly whether we liked it or not

emily356

Sometimes I wonder how humans have survived so long!:P I know there are VERY picky eaters, but I assure you, your hunger response in your body will NOT let you starve. I don't force my kids to eat everything. They must try everything. I don't buy junk food, except very rarely. Do my kids love all that stuff? Yes! And they get it at their grandparents house, church, friends houses, etc... but here, I cook one dinner only. I would never intentionally cook several things knowing that one of my kids hated all of those things, but I cook healthy meals, and they eat it!! I do bake occasionally as well... just wanted to throw that in there. I am not a fanatic.:)

AlayshaJ, had to add, My kids eat raw onions too!!! Hahahaha!!! They are 6, 4, and 1.:)

tofindmyselfprettyagain

I had to get my kid off chicken nuggets. You know, the frozen kind? I don't know if its Autism related, or what, but he wouldn't eat anything else. Ever. He would simply NOT EAT. For days.

Eventually, I just stopped buying them. We had a rough week, but he finally got off the nugget kick.

He's still beyond picky. There are plenty of night where he doesn't eat dinner. Gotta pick your battles!

I'm commenting just to quote this, because my youngest brother is the same way.. ONLY chicken nuggets for YEARS. h is also a giant fan of different kinds of fried potatoes (fried, hashbrowns, tater tots). My mom is trying to break him of the habit, but she's too busy breaking the habit of getting 'snacks' (soda, chocolate, cheetos, at once) everytime he wants them. His father doesn't like dealing with his meltdowns (they are divorcing), ever, so he just gives him piles of sweets instead. It's sad.

bhalter

I make the same meal every night for everyone. If you don't like it, I get vegetables or fruit out and give you more of that.

That being said, I let both my fiance and the kiddo have one "pick night" a week. I plan out the bulk of the week, but they each pick a meal for their nights. That way our daughter is still eating healthy, and learning to eat certain foods in moderation. She picks a lot of spaghetti and chicken nuggets and hot dogs/pigs in a blanket for her meals, so I try to work with what she says so we can all still eat the same thing. Add veggie side dishes to her main pick, use fat free or reduced fat ingredients or healthier substitutions, etc. When she wants pigs in a blanket, I pick up turkey dogs and reduced fat crescent rolls and eat them with her.