Question:
Reading about other people’s picky eaters reminds me how lucky I am that my kids will try new things–although they often won’t like them and never get that food again (at least until they have forgotten about trying it.) What I have found to be a problem is when my kids won’t eat the things I know they love. For instance, I make a meal made up of the things they like and they will barely touch it. If I had known they wouldn’t eat it, I would have prefered to cook something I like best. Anybody else have this problem? I don’t think there is a solution to something like this, just wanted to commiserate. -Suzi
Response:
I was the one with the Picky Eater plea, and, yes, my son does this all the time! It drives me up a tree! He could wolf down his pizza one night but then look at the leftover pizza like it’s calves liver at lunch the next day. He used to love a bunch of different fruits, now he won’t touch them. AAARGH! Gillian
Response:
> I was the one with the Picky Eater plea, and, yes, my son does this all > the time! It drives me up a tree! He could wolf down his pizza one night > but then look at the leftover pizza like it’s calves liver at lunch the > next day. He used to love a bunch of different fruits, now he won’t touch > them. AAARGH! > Gillian
And we call it a "one time rule" in our house. Our 2yr old would do it to foods and to other things too (when he was younger) like sleeping till 7 am but… only one time ! Such is parenting I suppose… and we just try our best. Joanna
Response:
>…I make a meal made up of the things they like and > they will barely touch it.
If I could erase one thing my 3 1/2 year old daughter does, it’s the picky eating thing. I honestly don’t know how she survives, on as little as she eats. Her baby sister eats twice as much as she does, easily. I used to be very heavy-handed about it, because I thought enough brute force would break her will. Nope – she resisted as much as I pushed. Even withholding dessert or other treats doesn’t work. Having been an extremely picky eater myself, though, I must say I can put myself in my daughter’s shoes. I’ve found that the best way to get her to eat is to offer very small amounts, and tell her that she must eat at least one bite of whatever it is. When she has done this (usually through gulping a large quantity of milk), I tell her I’m proud of her, and that she may be excused from the table if she doesn’t wish to eat any more. This works better than anything, and we both end up feeling happy. -TBB
If you like this post and would like to receive updates from this blog, please subscribe our feed.