Picky eaters

My mother will be the first to tell you that I was a very picky eater as a child. In fact, she says that for several years of my life I subsisted mainly on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (on white bread!) and McDonald's hamburgers (yuck!), and I would only drink milk with chocolate powder added. The moral of the story... at least I was eating something, and today, I'm a very healthy adult with healthy eating habits. I think my pickiness was an advantage, since I eventually grew to detest McDonald's hamburgers. (I haven't been able to stomach one since I was ten.) I still don't eat some common foods like steak, mayonaisse, and chedder cheese, but for the most part, I have a very varied diet including nuts, whole grains, fruits, veggies and a moderate amount of lean meat. I also love skim milk. (Without all of that fat in it, I find it very yummy.) I do still like peanut butter and jam (easier to spread than jelly), but I'll only eat it on whole wheat bread.  

I'm one of those moms who certainly doesn't force my 3 yr old son to eat, but I also don't make special meals for him if he doesn't like what's being served.  I realize that if he's hungry enough, he'll eat what's offered, and I won't force things I know he truly dislikes, but I'll neither only give him unhealthy foods that will allow him to think he doesn't need fruits and veggies, and can survive on McD's although I'm sure he'd love to!  I do treat him to that occassionally, but it's the exception, certainly not the rule!

Sometimes food habits (good and bad) are taught. I also believe strongly that kids have their own taste buds and if they say they don't like something, whether it be the texture, the temperature, or smell of the food, I listen to them. Now, if my kids say they don't like something without even trying, that, I don't allow.

My youngest had this thing about orange/yellow veggies. So what I did was puree carrots, peppers, corn and the like and I put it in something that she can't pick apart like spaghetti sauce, and voila! no problem.

It seems like all my blogs are responses to how I was in the past. This one is no different. As a child, I ate pb&j [and still do], grilled cheese [and still do], hot dogs out of the microwave [can't touch a dog, unless it has coleslaw on it now], and chicken. That's not that great of a diet for a child. My diet has gotten exceptionally worse as I have grown older. My favorite food is fried. When it comes to eating, I say as long as you are eating, you are fine. If it's not healthy, it will catch up to you [as it has with me, 35 pounds in 2 years... ouch!] 

When I was young - about a century ago - Meals were at 6 AM 12 noon and 6PM.

If I didn't like what was on the table there was always the next meal. But be warned my mother would say, there is no food between thoes meals for thoes who did not eat their food at the last meal.

There were a few hungry hours in thoes days, but i survived.

Some kids may be "supertasters" -- individuals with unusually acute sense of taste. Here's a reference that explains.

For years I lived on hot dogs & sauerkraut! YUM! I still love it! 

 But I must admit at our house we have a rule... you must take 1 bite of 'everything'....if you don't like it that's fine...but you at least have to try it.  And our son (13) has acquired the taste for many things over these years. 

vwwife - We have the same rule at our house. I would never expect my children to eat something they truly don't like. (There are some things I just won't eat either.) However, we don't allow the "I don't like it" excuse if it hasn't been tried. I can't tell you how many times a food that has been targeted with "I don't like that" or "that looks yucky" has been changed to "Yum!" or "OOOO - this is really good!" after that one mandatory bite. I've also noticed that our children's tastes have changed over time. Sometimes, a food that has previously been enjoyed is no longer eaten and vice versa.

4evrmom - I know what you mean about disguising food. I've done that, too, and it works most of the time.

As a final note, it is my opinion that parent modeling is the most powerful motivator when children are making food choices. If they see their parents eating healthy foods, they are more likely to be willing to try them. My children love different kinds of fruit and drink a lot of water and skim milk (as opposed to juice or soda). They probably wouldn't have acquired those preferences if the foods were not readily available and consumed in our home.