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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Some thoughts about parents and picky eaters


Most people don’t like to eat everything.
Will you eat a live cobra heart? What about a crunchy snack of worms? Monkey brain? Hey, most of you don't even eat chicken liver.


Adults are choosy too!
Parents! Challenge yourselves, as you challenge your kids, and try new dishes and ingredients every now and then.
We make choices for our kids by choosing what to buy and what to cook, or what to eat at a restaurant, according to what WE like. We have already narrowed it down for them according to our own taste. Maybe your child would eat lamb, or shrimp, but if you don’t buy it becuase you don't like it, then he or she will never have a chance to try it until s/he’s an adult.
So expand your own repertoire of favorite dishes with new recipes and food experiences.

If you make a big deal out of food, your kids will too.
It is just like trying to get your kids ready quickly in the morning to get to school on time and making a scene… It'll never work.
So don’t force kids to eat.
Heck, I can't even make my husband eat rutabagas which I am crazy about.
Children should be responsible to how much they eat. If they choose to be hungry… they will learn quickly.

The One Bite Rule.
You heard it before when you ere a kid - How can you say you don’t like it, if you haven’t tried it?

“Kids’ food”?
As long as you do make Mac & cheese, use good, REAL, cheese/s (not the overly processed ones). Use real, fresh, good-looking, free-rnage/organic chicken breast to make chicken nuggets at home.

No Y-word about food. Respect for food.
“Yucky”, “Ew”,”Gross” are not acceptable words to describe food. Teach your kids how and where food comes from. All the effort, that was put into it, from the farmers to you working at your full/part time job to make money, the time you spent planning, shopping, cooking, etc, to bring food to the table.
Ideas: go to U-pick farms, cook & shop together, let kids help in the kitchen, etc.

There is no one solution!
What your kids liked to eat last week, they might not want to touch next month. That’s OK, don’t give up. Most of us were picky eaters as kids. Some of us still are

How much have you changed since you were a kid? Are you still a picky eater? You can confess here...

Related posts:
Stuffed peppers – a picky eater's nightmare?

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