you only get MORE of what you put up with... usually in spades.I do know that I’ve become less picky of an eater as I’ve gotten older. I can only surmise I’m in the minority in that regard.
BUMP
hmm I’d say “if you don’t like it, you won’t have anything else to eat”
I have reasons of my own for interests in this topic too. I personally believe that different people have different sensitivities of taste and smell.
Somehow I just knew that this article would turn into a plug for Jessica Seinfeld’s new book.
I don’t have kids, but I have a dog. Believe me, if he gets hungry enough, he’ll eat his dogfood if he knows that begging for “people food” won’t work. I was a picky eater when I was a child. I’d eat RAW fruits and vegetables, but wouldn’t touch them if they were cooked.(except for potatoes and corn)
She is right this is a terrible thing. I watched a sister-in-law do this, and I never allowed my children to get away with setting the menu or putting extra requirements on the person preparing the meal. Eat what is in front of you, or don't eat.
Quit spoiling our children and we will solve some of the world's ills.
I consider myself fairly finicky. I’m not big on cooked vegetables (they get kinda mushy), and prefer fruit juice to actual fruit. I’m fine with raw vegetables, any starches, fruit juice and vegetable juice. I don’t care for bananas, apples, tomoatoes or corn. I like most cheese and dairy.
I’ll eat pretty much any meat - beef, chicken, pork, bacon, bison, turkey, fish, ham, venison, veal, crawfish, lobster, frog, snake, alligator, ostrich, emu, quail, pheasant, hot dogs, bologna, SPAM ... hell, I’d eat exotic animals if I could find somewhere that serves them (anybody know where I can get a Bengal Burger?). Slap it on the grill, medium rare ... or batter it and fry it.
Except ... I don’t care for bi-valves (clams, mussels, oysters) and squid or octopus ... slimy is not a good quality in a meat.
I like salads fine ... usually well dressed, and not on a burger or a sandwich (I see no reason to dilute the flavor of the meat and cheese with lettuce). I like mustard, and dispise mayonnaise.
And - I’d give my right arm for a plate of chicken wings right now.
H
This has been obvious to me for years. I have a son who has never been able to enjoy more than a few foods, even though he is now is his 20's. Many doctors claimed they would be able to help him with this, but none ever could.
He has two female relatives who have had anorexia. But he never spent much time with them, so the connection is obviously genetic.
I don't have either of these problems, but I must be a carrier.
Now I have a younger son (half brother to my older son) who is also showing signs of being a picky eater, although we are doing everything we can think of to avoid having him follow this path.
I’m lucky in that my kid will eat any vegetable you put in front of him except cauliflower. He’s been eating odd stuff since he could gum it (tofu,green/red peppers, etc.. ). Only kindergartener I know who wants carrot sticks in his Superman lunchbox. ;)
you only get MORE of what you put up with... usually in spades.Make kids try a taste of everything...then they will have a wide palet. If you don’t taste...you end up eating cardboard food.
If I didn’t taste in my mothers house...I went hungary!
Just like the article mentions at the end, my mother basically hid all of the healthy stuff in regular looking food that her three brats accepted, employing stealth cooking for everything from hamburgers to peanut butter sandwiches to pasta sauces to cake. And her mother did the same, as did hers, and likely so on. I don’t recall ever arguing with her over food (though the few times my father had gastrointestinal jurisdiction over us - mom being sick, or with a relative at the hospital, etc - words were exchanged and consequences meted out).
The funniest thing is (and I know this is nothing but anecdotal), many of my friends with supposedly crippling aversions to particular food items offered no protest to eating said items at my house; likewise, my younger brother happily ate his forbidden foods (in non-stealth concoctions) when dining with the families of his friends!
Even at the age of 1, she refused to eat mashed potatoes, vegetables, etc.
She was forced to eat vegetables and fruits. She learned to like some of them.
To this day, if they go out to eat and she isn’t familiar with the restaurant, she worries and frets about what they will have on the menu. She really is afraid of food.
The rule at our house is if you don’t eat it, you don’t eat. Takes care of picky eaters. :) Our children must try everything on their plates before leaving the table. After trying a food at least several times on different occasions and they still don’t prefer it then that is fine, but 9 times out of 10 if they try it often enough, they learn to like it.
My father, with his well-honed social and child psychology skills, simply said, “Eat it and like it.”
I believe that if they only want plain spaghetti for every meal then they should get just plain spaghetti for their meal.
When they are invited over to other peoples' houses for meals, rather than being required to be polite and eat what is in front of them, the host should be expected to cook them exactly what they want. Either that or they should allow the childrens' mother to cook their favorite foods for them.
Even if what they want is technically unhealthy for them, denying them what they want will only cause them to be traumatized and hurt them later in life.
The same advice should be followed with regard to what activities children want to engage in (or not engage in), when if ever they want to do their homework or help around the house, and whether or not they choose to participate in family outings and activities.
Anyone who punishes a child for not eating what is put in front of them should be arrested for child abuse.
/sarcasm
Oh bs...All of my 6 children eat differently while I will try almost anything. All are meat eaters except the 8 yr old. She will eat any veggie but really doesn't like eating meat. So I make extra veggies for her. Our rule is you have to at least try it. If you don't like it then you can have eggs or a PB&J sandwich. I gave up on trying to please everyone. I have noticed that the ones who didn't care for lobster & seafood as children now love it.
But venison was a very small percentage of what mom served, and I didn't care for most of it. She whipped me up something I would eat for a while, but somewhere around age 6 she simply said "if you want something else you make it". So when I didn't like what was served I did. It was a rather poor menu, but I survived. I got to be a better cook as I got older, and when I had pony up the effort to make my own meals some of mom's cooking became less distasteful.
I have outgrown most of my dislikes. I still don't care for seafood with the exception of tuna and, of all things, Maryland Blue Crabs. Lima beans, brussels sprouts and asparagus still suck but I like nearly any other veggies. (for those of you who can't get past that "straw like" dry taste of raw broccoli flourettes try eating them with red flame seedless grapes - it's excellent). My kids will eat nearly anything - I'm the only one in our house who doesn't care for some foods. In fact our youngest is from China; we will need to keep her away from the pets...
I think the idea that picky eating is genetic is silly. Did my genetic code alter as I aged? Or were my food "aversions" simply overcome by maturity and a desire to eat something other that macaroni & cheese and other foods that are easy to cook. You can decide for yourself.
I was a very picky eater as a small child. I was small and sickly all the time. THen somewhere around the 4th grade I did a complete 180. I began to eat like a horse. I ate everything in sight from that time until about age 28 or so. Instead of getting yelled at by my parents to clean my plate, I was yelling at my parents for not making enough food. I became uncommonly strong and fit. Then I started getting picky again but for different reasons. My guts started to complain about certain things. I had to give up sweets and pop and greasy and spicy foods. Now it’s strictly bland stuff. Veggies, watery soup, plain meat, etc. I never eat dessert. If I go to a restaurant I almost always get a club sandwich because I know my guts can handle that. And now I’m not quite so healthy either these days. Bad joints, stiff muscles, etc. A serious sinus infection once a year or more.
I’ve heard people say that the way you come into this world is the way you go out of this world. It’s starting to look that’s what’s going to happen to me.