It is not exactly news to write about what my kid(s) won’t eat. Every parent has a story, right? However, some blogs have elevated it to an art form. At Suburban Bliss, author Melissa Summers has a regular feature called “Did They Eat It?” She takes clever photos all through the meal preparation process, adds a liberal dose of humor, and tops it off with the comments from each of her (often disgruntled) family members. As at my house, things rarely go well for her. Plan, purchase, prepare, have everything be done (and hot) at the same time – ? – and then “they didn’t eat it.” Sigh. Perhaps my favorite part is the needlecraft motif header in her blog; a cross-stitch masterpiece that is to me the perfect juxtaposition of old fashioned “clean your plate” with modern parenting sensibilities.
The Professor was willing to eat anything when he was little. Then came The Little One; he was much more, um, discriminating. And that’s where I made the fatal mistake as the meal-preparing parent — I let one influence the other and it was a slippery slope down from there to Nitrate Land. We still make them try new things on a regular basis — I take some amount of perverse pleasure in it actually — following a philosophy loosely based on some mythical research that when one tries a new food at least 20 times, one will learn to like it. Or at least tolerate it.
The funny blog The Detective Mom had an amusing post recently, sharing a story of her toddler’s foray into salad. It involves vegetables and the body functions of small poultry. Sigh again, her kid eats salad!
So, we keep plodding along, throwing new culinary attempts at the wall to see which ones will stick. The kids will eat more things if they are plain, raw or not touching any other food stuff. They will eat all the ingredients separately, but not combined. That’s not all bad. There are always some healthy things to choose from on the table. Someday they will eat food that is mixed together, I am confident. I hear that at the age of three, I ate nothing but SpagettiO’s for an extended period. Now, I will try virtually anything, and enjoy almost all of it. (Except SpagettiO’s.)
Recently, The Professor and I were having a spirited discussion about what was for dinner. I must have had an exasperated look on my face, because he suddenly looked empathetic and said, “Mom, I am really sorry that you have to go through so much effort to try to find healthy things that I will eat. (long pause) But it is kinda fun watching you try!”
Sigh.
My wife was adament from day one on eating and sleeping habbits, and both have paid tremendous dividends.
I know all new parents have to find their own way, and I have really learned to scale back the advice/opinions, but for those who may be listening, if you get these two right, youall will be in great shape.
Amen to that. At least we got the sleeping thing straight from the get-go…
We’ve been extremely lucky on the food side of things, but there are definite foods my wife and I just had to let go. I always wonder if we’ll ever get them back.
I’ve SEEN the rundown on what your kids will eat… you can call it luck but go ahead and take the credit too!
My favorite is when he says “Well….it’s not awful…” or who could forget “the pasta tastes like PEAS!!!!!” 🙂
well, sometimes a person just can’t yike that… 🙂