confusion with son's reaction?

lin7604

does anyone have suggestion on how to deal with this? my son who is 6 was diagnosed in sept, we have been doing the change over and he is now not willing to eat veggies and meat. At school this week he told me he had some cookies at a class party and i assume they weren't GF. I made cookies special for his party and he wouldn't eat them? He told me he didn't want me to make cookies for his class and to only bring him a special snack. I told him the reasoning for me to make them was for him to be able to share them with all his friends and then they ALL can eat GF. he really didn't want me to make any? I told him it's nice when he can be apart of the class and they all eat the same thing so he feels apart of them and not separate but he kept asking me to only bring him a snack as he won't be able to eat the rest of the party treats as those mom's don't make the snacks GF... i am confused with this reaction this time. i am not sure if he doesn't understand why i want him to feel apart of the rest of the class, if he's embarrassed that i have to make something separate? or what?

SyntonicGarden

How different are the GF cookies that you're making? I've been doing the no-wheat thing for upwards of 15 years and there are a lot of terrible tasting GF cookie recipes. Bleh. Like really gross. And the health food stores think they're doing a favor by carrying these $8 - 10 bags of yucky, "high end" cake and cookie mix with flours that don't taste right (Amaranth? What "normal" kid likes amaranth?) and chips that are gross if you're 6 years old and not used to them. I'm 30-something and I'm not used to them. Bleh.

Betty Crocker makes a GF chocolate chip cookie mix. It comes in a box that looks like other Betty Crocker stuff and I believe is made in a dedicated GF facility. It even comes with "Boxtops" if you're collecting them. I can actually get my husband to eat the Crocker GF cookies. Sometimes I'll reduce the butter to get a thicker cookie. Or I'll add applesauce and reduce the shortening to get a more moist. Maybe I'll add more chips or some nuts. I invested $5 in an ice cream scooper that scoops tablespoon size balls which are perfect for making even, normal looking cookies.

The Betty Crocker brownie mix and their cake mix are equally delicious and a 10-fold better than the pricey health food store stuff. AND there's some level of normalcy to it. I've made the Crocker GF cupcakes and served them to non-GF friends. THEN I told them they were GF and they were shocked. Your son just probably doesn't want to be the "different kid" who has to eat "special lunches" and if I had to guess, the special snack is not coming out so that the non-gf stuff can be eaten instead, especially if he told you he ate the other cookies. I applaud his honesty and that's something you want to continue to encourage.

All of that being said, maybe a decent approach is to not make the GF thing such a big deal so that he doesn't feel so shamefully different. (You're not shaming him. Other people's kids can be cruel.) Assuming he doesn't have an autism spectrum disorder or something else where you have to aggressively monitor his sugar as well, start looking for things that are normally gluten-free, like Rice Krispie treats (you might need to buy GF rice cereal, depending on his tolerance to malt syrup). I think Gogurts might also be GF. Try things like apple wedges and peanut butter. And if you dip the apple slices in either pineapple or orange juice, they'll be less likely to turn gross/brown in the lunch bag.

And the best thing about 6 is that you can still get away with doing really cool / fun things in the lunch bag.If he can get help with them, there's nothing that says colored eggs are just for Easter. Think outside of the box. If you've got access to a good GF sliced bread (that looks and tastes like "normal" bread), make him a sandwich and use cookie cutters to make them into fun shapes. You can use smaller (usually metal) cookie cutters to shape slices of cheese, fruit or veggies too.

I have purchased this particular sandwich cutter to get nieces and nephews to eat. Many grocery stores carry it for about $4.
http://www.evriholder.com/crust-cutter.asp

There are also websites out there with creative lunch ideas. Take the focus off of the fact that WHAT he's eating is different and put the focus on the presentation. Make his lunch the one everyone else wants to eat by making it fun.

Google "fun lunches for kids" and see what you come up with.

http://blissfullydomestic.com/food-bliss/recipes-food-bliss/20-amazing-school-lunches-for-kids/125833/2/ (The bento 7 of 20 is my favorite)

And if you can enlist his help every once in a while, like with making cookies, maybe he'll want to eat something he made. If you can add fun sprinkles.

Hope that helps!
Feel free to send a PM if I can be of any help.

lin7604

thanks. i have made several different kinds of chocolate chip cookies and he reacted the same to all of them, i found some to be really good. I have tried all the betty crocker stuff, the cookies i found to be super sweet. the brownies were ok. I just got confused with his reaction b/c it was like he wanted me to make something so they could all eat a nice treat together, then it was like NO don't make anything, i just want a "special treat for myself".... then it was like he was sad that there will be things that he won't be able to eat and it seemed like he was mad/ upset. so i tried to explain to him that is why i was goign to make something for everyone, so it would be like if another mom brought cookies and they all ate them..... i know all the cookies i have tried to make all turn out more crunchy and he likes soft homemade cookies.... so i guess maybe if i can find a soft cookie recipe it will make the world off difference, but i just have to find one that turn out soft...

i told him i was happy he was honest with me about having a ginger bread cookie on thurs and again a sprinkle cookies on fri. I assume it was a sugar cookie...., he asked me when i picked him up if he was able to have a sprinkle cookie.... i told him, probably not but if he is unsure to just make sure he asks the teacher if it is GF or not. You just never know, there may be a kind parent out there that knows he is GF in the class and woudl make a gf snack..... so i hope he continues to be honest, i told him i am not mad b/c i know this transition has been super hard on him and i am not expecting him to be 100% gf yet... it's still trial and error at times for us.... just like smarties, he had made sundaes for snack on thurs and told me they had smarties in it and his daycare teacher knows alot about celiacs and i was surprised she gave him some b/c they can contain wheat flour...

SyntonicGarden

Wow. That's tough... And yeah, strange.

Maybe changing the shortening in the cookies might change the moisture. I like crispy cookies, so when they're all for me, I would make them with butter. Hubby is a chewy cookie person, so when I would make to share, I'd add applesauce.

lin7604

i shall try applesauce next time. i used everytime...