I was a picky eater. My children are not. I make fresh veggies (my family used canned. blech) My children know if they don’t like something, that’s all we’re making.
I was at a friends house one afternoon when her young son came home from school and he was begging for salad. I would have fainted if my boys did that.
Now I am something of a neophile, wanting to taste as many new foods as possible, and constantly changing recipes and trying new combinations.
This neo-experimentalism and lack of culinary rigidity has not endeared me to my family.
No one has commented on one question that's on my mind -- if a kids eats just noodles and french fries, isn't that a dangerously unhealthy diet? Doesn't this put the kid at risk for health problems?
Of course, even picky eaters don't eat only noodles and fries -- in my experience they probably also eat breakfast cereal (sugar) and chocolate (more sugar).
Stupid of a mother to do that! My 4 children sat down to dinner every night and stayed till they ate. Otherwise they got nothing else.
New foods required ‘a bite’ to see how it tasted. They also had to ask to be excused from the table.
I’ve raised three boys to maturity. They had two choices at mealtimes: ‘Take it, or leave it!’
None of the three ever missed a meal, and all are hale, hearty and healthy. Granted, they have their likes and dislikes, as do we all, but I never catered to them. They ate what was served. End of story. It was a BIG deal if we had take-out Chinese or a delivered pizza, LOL! If they wanted “junk food” they bought it out of their own hard-earned money. We didn’t have soda or snack foods of any kind other than homemade popcorn and pretzels. You ate at mealtime! What is with this constant “grazing” that kids (and adults) do these days?
They could get “treats” at Grandma’s House. That’s what Grandmas are for, right? ;)
We had oatmeal or (plain) cereal or eggs or pancakes for breakfast. We had sandwiches and soup for lunch. We had cake when it was someone’s birthday. Dinner was meat (venison or chicken or fish), potatoes or rice and a vegetable most of the time. Sometimes a casserole if I was running late. When the garden was exploding in August, we had fresh tomato and pepper salads, corn on the cob and BLTs. I mean, for WEEKS, LOL! Sometimes we’d have “breakfast for supper” if husband and I were broke. sometimes there was a pot of soup on the stove for a week; I just added scraps to it every day. The boys didn’t know the difference and it wasn’t their business what we could “afford” to serve them at any given time, anyway.
I suppose that kind of ‘draconian child-rearing’ would land me in jail these days. *SMIRK* Two are computer experts, one is a mechanic. All admirable, family-obtaining and Old-Age Mother Supporting occupations, LOL! :)
And fainting at the smell of orange juice? That little twit is going to make some therapist incredibly wealthy in the near future, LOL!
P.S. My MIL fed a family of FOURTEEN for years on end. I owe a debt of gratitude to her. She took me under her wing when I was a novice wife and mother. God Bless You, Geraldine! :)
I was never a picky eater as a kid. I ate sardines and brussel sprouts, no complaining, even if I didn’t like something very much. I’m not picky now, either.
My niece and nephew and their dad are very picky eaters. I just don’t understand people who are picky, and especially those who won’t eat certain desserts! I mean, is there really such a thing as a bad cake? It makes family gatherings a PITA for the host.
I'll eat damn near anything if somebody else fixes it. ;-)
I am the parent of a 20yo and a 17yo.
Just like my wife and I the foods they hated as children they hate today.
As to the “eat the crap on your plate or I’ll beat your ass” attitude that my parent had, I have not seen them in 13 years and will not attend their funeral when they die. Not just for this only, but for the other arrogant crap too.
My mother would not let me eat raw vegetables because she was so damned ignorant that she thought that if she boiled all of the vitamins out of them they were better for us.
I got my revenge the last time that they set the timer and told me that if the navy beans were not eaten in five minutes I would get a beating and then get to go finish them. I finished the beans and then threw up all over the table.
It is not hard to not be a prick and pick a menu that we all agree on. It is not different menus, it is being intelligent and knowing how to cook.
Note: My poor daughter has a 3.9 GPA and has triple lettered in sports. They both also love me.
I adopted four (4) siblings as an “only” parent in the last couple of years. My 7 year old new daughter (at the time) had only one thing listed on her medical chart, and that was “picky eater”. It was ridiculous that she had that label, as a medical problem. First day I brought them home with me and we ate our first meal as a family, she looked down at her plate (of delicious food I had worked hard to create), she says, “I don’t eat that, because I’m a picky eater.”
I looked down at her with all the love I could muster for my new, precious little girl, and said, “oh”, and then I proceed to ignore her. It was painful for both of us, as the rest of us went on to enjoy our food (other kids snuffed it down like it was their dying meal), and at the end of the meal, I got up to clear the table, taking her plate away (that she hadn’t touched one bite of). Through dramatic, heartful big tears rolling down her face, she says, “but I’m still hungry!”, to which I replied, “Well, the next time, I guess you’ll eat all your food then!”
It was the one and ONLY time she went to bed hungry in our home, and now, she will eat anything — including broccoli, peas, shrimp, salad — everything she bragged about before that she does NOT eat, as a “picky eater”.
It was a trick I learned from other foster / adoptive parents in my classes. I’ve had several other parents come and ask me to drop off their kids at my house for a meal, so they can watch how I “make” my kids eat the way they do. I tell them — “kids will eat if they’re hungry enough”.
I believe that catering (literally) to each child’s individual taste buds, when you have a large family (or in my case, as a single parent), teaches that child to feel entitled to much more than just food in their adulthood. THAT is child abuse. Just my humble opinion...
Changing my vacation plans?
HA!
Our rules are at least a few bites, if not all, and knowing what my kids really don't like (I was averse to cooked carrots growing up, but loved brussel sprouts) I limit the amount I put on their plates when it is something they have tried several times and truly dislike. I'm not *that* mean!
Having two big hungry dogs eyeing their plates probably helped, too.
I’m somewhat guilty of that—my daughter was a great eater as a baby but for several years her diet seemed pretty much limited to chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and goldfish crackers. I’m exaggerating of course but sadly not much!
But she grew and thrived and didn’t drink soda or eat candy or many sweets, so I wasn’t too worried about it. Now one of her favorite foods is artichokes!
My son kind of went through that too but now he’s very adventurous in his eating. All we ask is that they take a bite!
I don’t want to turn my home into a diner, but my husband and I like to eat fish and other things I’m not going to force anyone to eat. So I sometimes make different meals for the kids.
I think people develop food issues if likes/dislikes are overemphasized. I’d rather keep introducing new foods, encouraging them to try it and relax.
In my experience they outgrow pickiness and look at food as fuel and not have other issues if the parents just relax a bit. It helps that both my kids are pretty decent athletes so I really emphasize the “healthy choices” thing and praise them when they try or eat healthy foods.
I dunno, if your kid is picky eating, hunger is a great motivator
I cannot imagine my parents altering a vacation for my delicate taste buds or my mother cooking a different supper for me. Are these people in the real world?