How do you get good food into picky children?
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Do you eat together with your children?
Yes. All meals are ate at the dining table, with no television or other distractions. I do not allow eating meals on the couch in front of the TV.0 -
have you tried using dips?
yogurt, hummus, dressing...
also, if you can get her to try hummus, she could eat it with tortilla chips or on a sandwich.
the chickpeas are super healthy
and you can put in her fav. flavors
roasted red pepper is especially tastey
there are hundreds of variations.0 -
I never tried anything sneaky, but I did make my kids try a few bites of everything served. And I require at least one fruit or vegetable for lunch and dinner.
When they were little, during the summer I'd take them to the local farmer's market and let them each pick out a fruit or vegetable and we'd take them home and make dinner. Maybe it was corn on the cob, apples and grapes, but it's still pretty healthy!
I still try to serve a variety, as we each like different veggies; some of us like them cooked, some like them raw.
From as soon as she could walk, Amelia has helped me with the grocery shopping, helped find different produce, picked out things to try, etc... She even became known to the assistants who would see her looking around and say "So, what does dad have you looking for today?". Unfortunately it didn't translate to her actually wanting to eat any of it.0 -
hiding the food doesn't help them change habits. I do add extra veggies to a lot of food, but not really to hide it. My kids have to try everything on their plates, even if it is one bite. We try different ways of preparing the different fruits and veggies. I have one kid that only likes raw carrots and one that likes them cooked (frozen or fresh is ok, but not canned). We figured it out by having them try things different ways. They also 'help' pick out and make a decent amount of our food. We started them this way with food from the time they started on solids.0
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My toddler is the same way...he loves his fruit though, guess he gets that from daddy. So far we've only been able to get him to eat two vegetables, peas and cucumber (no skin)...and even then, it's only a few bites. It took quite a few tries with those ones though. Now I'm working on wilted spinach but he just picks it up with his fingers and gives me an I'm disgusted look and lets it fall back to his plate.
With the really young I'd go for a constant exposure approach, and whilst they can't cook are cut food, they can help serve/arrange food on plates, design salads etc. The balance is not making a big deal about vegetables without ending up with a child that refuses to eat vegetables.
Often when I've experienced children that won't eat certain foods, it's absolutely nothing to do with the food, but the relationship with the parent and a struggle for control and independence. They'd happily eat someone elses carrots or sweetcorn etc round a friend'shouse.
The real trouble is when the child starts to associate a food with a fight with their care giver.0 -
Most people really don't want an answer to this question because it means they won't get their "goodies" either. Get rid of all foods high in sugar or starch until the child learns that veggies and meats can fill all voids. Veggies can be sweet, crispy, savory, spicy, or anything you want them to be depending on how they are prepared. Yes, that means get rid of the noodles. Get rid of the chips, popcorn, crackers or pretzels. No soda in the house. No candy. No sweet juices (get low sodium veggie juice if the rascal wants something other than water or milk). Cut back or eliminate sweet fruits for a little while. No prepackaged foods. Once the sugar (and chemicals if you are giving them soda or prepackaged foods) is out of their system, real food will start to taste good to them.
The sad reality is that many children who are "picky eaters" are really just addicts. Real food doesn't have the caffeine and sugar hit of a nice soda or the sodium kick and high glycemic rush of a chip. Prepackaged foods are loaded with chemicals to make you crave them. Etc. Etc.
Unfortunately, you must get the crap out of your house because kids like that are smart. They know you aren't going to let them starve to death and you need to be able to look them in the eye, with all honesty in yours, and say "Hunny, we do not have any of that in the house. We only have this, this or that. Which would you like?"
Part 2 is almost equally as important. Tell them to turn off the TV, computer or video game and come help Mommy in the kitchen. As noted above, show them the things you have and let them decide which one you are going to eat for dinner. Have them help peel, chop, etc. If they are real young, this could be standing on the chair next to you and have them move things from a cutting board (that you chopped) into another bowl, EVEN IF YOU DON'T NEED ANOTHER BOWL! If they are involved, they are creating. When they create, the have pride. When they have pride in their creation, they are more apt to eat it.
Good luck!0 -
I honestly resorted to two actions and it works like a charm! May not work for everyone but certainly works for my picky little girl.
She has a choice to go hungry and straight to bed from the table or eat what is on her plate.
If she had been eating well all day I give a different option, she has to try a bite or she will sit there till she finishes her whole plate, I even remind her that I can wait all night for her to do it and then she caves. Hates it, complains, says how gross it is but she does eat.
How I used to get some of my old exes that didn't like vegetables is by using veggie ground beef in soups and tacos (they had NO clue it wasn't meat) and put veggies in milkshakes, you need to add a little more sweet when doing so but they never notice!0 -
My real dad was notorious for sneaking things into other foods to try and get me to eat it. I hated it and I truly believe it made me not trust him OR food (I find that I have to dissect things in order to know what is in them). I would never, ever hide stuff my kids don't like in something else nor would I want someone to do it to me again. If you don't like it, you don't like it. I wish people would stop trying to force picky eaters to eat. It is bothersome. (I have a picky eater child too and I never forced her to eat stuff she didn't want. She took vitamins and we called it even).
ah but... if your child only ate pizza and ice cream wouldnt you have an issue with it?
x
My kids don't do that because we rarely have either in the house. They will eat what the family eats for dinner with few exceptions.0 -
Most people really don't want an answer to this question because it means they won't get their "goodies" either. Get rid of all foods high in sugar or starch until the child learns that veggies and meats can fill all voids. Veggies can be sweet, crispy, savory, spicy, or anything you want them to be depending on how they are prepared. Yes, that means get rid of the noodles. Get rid of the chips, popcorn, crackers or pretzels. No soda in the house. No candy. No sweet juices (get low sodium veggie juice if the rascal wants something other than water or milk). Cut back or eliminate sweet fruits for a little while. No prepackaged foods. Once the sugar (and chemicals if you are giving them soda or prepackaged foods) is out of their system, real food will start to taste good to them.
The sad reality is that many children who are "picky eaters" are really just addicts. Real food doesn't have the caffeine and sugar hit of a nice soda or the sodium kick and high glycemic rush of a chip. Prepackaged foods are loaded with chemicals to make you crave them. Etc. Etc.
Unfortunately, you must get the crap out of your house because kids like that are smart. They know you aren't going to let them starve to death and you need to be able to look them in the eye, with all honesty in yours, and say "Hunny, we do not have any of that in the house. We only have this, this or that. Which would you like?"
Part 2 is almost equally as important. Tell them to turn off the TV, computer or video game and come help Mommy in the kitchen. As noted above, show them the things you have and let them decide which one you are going to eat for dinner. Have them help peel, chop, etc. If they are real young, this could be standing on the chair next to you and have them move things from a cutting board (that you chopped) into another bowl, EVEN IF YOU DON'T NEED ANOTHER BOWL! If they are involved, they are creating. When they create, the have pride. When they have pride in their creation, they are more apt to eat it.
Good luck!
Unfortunately there is an assumption here that I'm not already doing all of these things.
Amelia *loves* to help cook. She begs to help cook, in fact, and I love cooking with her. He mom similarly loves baking with her.
She's always grocery shopped with me, and she's been loading the cart with produce since she was two. She knows her way around the produce section of the grocery store nearly as well as the produce employees, and better than most of the cashiers ("This is kale, right?" "Help me out here, chard?" "What are these? Beets?"). She's even picking up on different cuts of meat at the butchers now.
Our house always has a full on selection of vegetables and fruit. She just won't eat 90% of it.
What she will eat (arrived at through long and painful experimentation) -
Tomato based sauces, as long as she doesn't recognize veges in them.
Apples, as long as they are peeled.
Oranges, depending on how she feels.
Bananas, depending on how she feels.
Carrots, as long as she has ranch to dip them in.
Shredded iceberg lettuce, so long as it's mixed with liberal amounts of ranch dressing and cheese.
50/50 Mashed potato and cauliflower, so long as I don't tell her about the cauliflower.
Most meats.
Whole grain bread.
Cheerios, but only with 2% milk. Skimmed milk 'looks purple'. No big deal, kids need more fat than grown ups anyway.
Whole grain pasta.
Three color vege pasta, but not the green ones.
Cauliflower cheese, but you have to watch the sneaky madam, or she'll just eat the cheese sauce.
Brocolli cheese, if you get her on a really, really good day, and suitably cajole her.
Cheese (by the bucket load, if she was allowed).
And she's a kid, so of course candy, of which she is allowed one small piece a day.
To drink she is allowed 1 4oz glass of apple juice a day. Beyond that, it's water or milk.
She's not been to a fast food joint in over two months, and generally prefers Subway anyway.
The rule is that she can get a simple meal in replacement of something you don't like, so long as she has at least tried it. Now that she's old enough, she'll have to prepare that simple meal herself, making a simple sandwich or something. Between meals, she can eat as much fruit as veg as she likes but nothing else.
Writing all that out, I guess maybe she's not so bad by picky kid standards. I just wish I could get her to sit with us and eat the same food we do instead of having such a limited repertoire. Resorting to hiding foods is as much about allowing *us* to have the diet that we want, without having to serve up different meals for her.0 -
I wouldn't worry about her being picky with foods, maybe just a bit fussy as to what meals she eats - but nutrition wise, it seems good.
To get my son to eat what and when we do, we put his food on the plate and then leave it at his place setting at the table while we sit there. He eventually comes back and eats it because he likes being part of it and feeling like a grown up. Although he is 2 so it might not work with older children.0 -
No trick ever worked ever.0
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My grandson (4) is one of the worst. He'll see microscopic things in his food "what's that green thing?" when there's nothing and absolutely refuse to have a single bite. Other than squeezing his cheeks to force his lips apart (which I admit I did once), there's no way to enforce a rule that he has to try a bite. He won't.
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OUr kids eat what we eat, period. We do allow our oldest to not eat tomato sauce on her pasta but that's about it. We have a similar rule to the OP that if its on their plate, then they must try it. If they don't like it they don't have to eat it but we keep trying. Over time their palates have become more sophisticated than a lot of adults I've met.0
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I wonder if she would like 'ice cream' made with bananas, or sorbet made with fruit or made into popsicles.
could make some for the whole family.0 -
Jessica Seinfeld has a GREAT cookbook that teaches you how to sneak good foods into just about everything kids eat.
Oh yes, that is a great book. I purée a lot of cooked veggies and mix them into casseroles, suaces, soups and muffins. Squash and sweet potatoes are yummy in muffins.
I try really hard to make food that is appealing, but we do end up with food struggles with our middle daughter on a regular basis. She has so many things that she can't eat due to food allergies and sensitivities and is a very picky eater. With regard to non-camouflaged vegetables I try to have a variety of raw and cooked veggies with every meal. I will put some veggies on her plate that are "must eats" and let her pick some others if she wants. Vegetables that are not eaten in school lunches become the first part of after school snack.0 -
Well, this may sound harsh, (and my kids are grown now), but.....I always tried to serve pretty balanced meals. We usually had some sort of meat, a real salad, and a vegetable and maybe a roll. Casseroles were frequent too with veggies in them (whole not hidden). Dessert was special, maybe a couple nites a week. I really never had too much problem, because either they ate or they went hungry. No special meal for either of them if they didn't like what was being served. And because of that, they both eat pretty healthy today0
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My sentiments exactly!0
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It doesn't seem like your kid is terribly picky. My nephew exists on chicken nuggets, fries and pizza only. But that's because my sister in law allows it.
I don't have picky eaters, so I have no advice to offer. I do think however that while hiding veggies is getting the kids the nutrients, it isn't showing them that broccoli can be tasty. I wouldn't call that a long term soloution.0 -
puree carrots and other veggies into spaghetti sauce. V8 splash
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My grandson (4) is one of the worst. He'll see microscopic things in his food "what's that green thing?" when there's nothing and absolutely refuse to have a single bite. Other than squeezing his cheeks to force his lips apart (which I admit I did once), there's no way to enforce a rule that he has to try a bite. He won't.
My kids exactly!0
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