Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Khrystyne on November 13, 2010 at 12:02pm

I try to keep the junk away. Hubby does some of the shopping, and he's a junk food junkie! I always make sure to buy lots of fresh fruits and veggies, and make him hide his junk food.

Permalink Reply by Becca on November 13, 2010 at 1:04am

That's a great idea... unfortunately if you have a kid like one of my brothers was even that wouldn't be enough.

Some kids actually are genetically predisposed to finding the taste of green vegetable appalling. I think the most important thing for a kid especially one prone to being picky is to do a number of things:
- Be creative (as you have successfully done)
- Make sure they are eating a balanced diet. (if they don't eat the broccoli it's not the end of the world if they are eating other vegetables)
- Encourage your children to try new things
- Encourage them to re-try a food after a while... taste buds do change and let them know that tasted buds do change.
- Don't ever force them to eat a food they clearly do not like
- You can sneak lots of veggies into foods by pureeing them and mixing them into foods you know they like (this works especially great for soups and pastas)

I am a pre-kindergarten teacher. I always encourage the kids I work with to at least try a little mousy bite of everything on their plate before turning up their noses. I tell them how your tastes change and let them know that the worst thing that can happen when trying a food is that there mouth tastes icky for a moment or I joke with them and I ask them if they think they'll die if they try a bite - giggling usually ensues for a while then more often than not the kid will actually take a bite. :) Anyways great thread... I'm going tohave to check back to see what everyone else is saying...

Permalink Reply by Becca on November 13, 2010 at 1:50pm

That sounds like a very good rule in your case.. my brothers were the same way and could have benefited from that rule. Oh no! I spotted an onion I'm never eating that again!

Permalink Reply by Khrystyne on November 13, 2010 at 11:59am

Thankfully, I am extremely lucky where she is concerned. Kelsey eats lots of veggies. Her favorite is onions. Sometimes I will catch her eating one like an apple straight from the pantry! I just take it, peel it and let her go. (and brush her teeth twice when she's done. Peeeyuuuu!!) She loves salad and green leafy veggies, so she's good diet wise. We've always fed her the same things we eat. It was cute seeing a 1 yr old chowing down on sauerkraut & sausage. She even eats brussel sprouts.

It's funny, we were at a birthday party for my niece and my cousin's bf decided to chime in when I let Kelsey eat a piece of cake. He told me I shouldn't let her eat cake, because she was going to get fat. I told him my daughter ate more veggies in a day than he did in a week and that he better back off.

Permalink Reply by Becca on November 13, 2010 at 1:55pm

There are children in my class who are sent to school and their entire lunch box is full of junk food.... It makes me glad that the school provides the snacks that way I can at least make sure they eat something healthy in the day. I wished I could take those parents aside at the end of the day and give them a speech on healthy eating but that would be overstepping my bounds.

Permalink Reply by Becca on November 13, 2010 at 1:51pm

Eating an onion like an apple! Crazy... I love onions but they gotta be cooked or marinated or an especially weak one chopped up small. Kudos to your little girl.

Permalink Reply by Becca on November 13, 2010 at 2:24pm

Maybe right... I am right! Check this out:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/science-picky-eaters.html

Permalink Reply by Khrystyne on November 13, 2010 at 2:12pm

She's a crazy kid. If I'm chopping onions while I'm cooking, I have to watch out for her little hands trying to steal some off the cutting board. She gets it from me. When I was little, I would eat onion & miracle whip sandwiches w/ my grandpa.

Here she is in all her glory, eating an onion and drinking water. lol

Permalink Reply by Becca on November 13, 2010 at 2:38pm

Too Cute!