Children and food

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.

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

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

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!

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.

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.

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.