Need help with picky eaters!!!!!
Please help me with a creative idea to have my children eat!!! Last night my husband was packing up the dvds to mail to Africa because they would not eat their mini portions of green beans over a 2 hour time span. I am so not enjoying this and ready to make pb& js for every meal!!! Please help this microwave maven attempting to cook family meals
posted by Trish | 6:54 AM
5 Comments:
You may not like this answer, but when my kids were little, I prepared dinner, served them small portions of whatever I'd fixed (no special substitutions), and then just let them eat as little or as much as they wanted. The catch? If they didn't eat their food, they got no dessert.
I kept a cookie jar full of homemade cookies, and they very much wanted one. Sometimes Grace would sit at the table for hours, determined to finish. We just left her there and went about our business. It's too stressful on everyone if the parents hover and cajole and threaten. Your kids aren't going to die of starvation. If they refuse what you serve, then make sure no one supplies them with anything else. When they get truly hungry, they'll eat.
Did I ever mention that mercy isn't one of my spiritual gifts. ;)
Almost every dietitian will tell Jeanne said. If you give in and make PB& J everymeal then you will foster the problem. It is the equivilent of letting them stay home from school because it is hard!
Not making a big deal about it is important. Set the rules and like Jeanne said, go about your business.
They will not starve!
Also add new things all the time. That way it is not as big of a deal when you introduce something new.
And here comes the most dreaded phrase of all "they WILL grow out of it"...eventually. That is, as long as you stay the course.
Does this help?
I have no creative suggestions here, but have the same problem. Meadow VERY much wants dessert so that sometimes helps; however, if she doesn't want it she WILL not eat it. One time she said she wanted a cake mix out of the pantry. I made it and was planning on us eating it after dinner. She would NOT eat anything for dinner and begged for the cake. We were sitting there eating the cake in front of her saying how good it was and she still would not eat a bite of dinner. We couldn't believe it. I was a picky eater and I've grown out of it. Don't they say the greatest influence on kids eating habits is what their parents eat? If the parents eat well, then the kids will eventually.
This might sound funny, but I sometimes let my kids have some ownership of the menu by letting them pick one meal a week (we got enough folks 'round here that you just git one day to pick). I get tired of coming up with meals. I go around the room and take requests while I'm making the grocedry list. They choose a meat, a bread (rice/potatoes count)& 2 veggies. They look forward to "their" night and seem so proud of themselves for designing such a tasty meal --and being able to "boss" the cook. The others seem to gripe less because they don't want to offend or dissappoint the "host" for the evening. On the nights that I'm not quite so premeditated and inclusive, we just have taco soup and call it a day!
Thank you for all of the ideas. I like the choosing your own meal, although it would probably be mac & chz-lol
I will not have them clean their plate too, that is alot of pressure that I hated when I was a kid. Also I will hold strong to not making them pb&js.
Thank you - I knew I could count on you all to help me! Now I need to find out where the dvds are that were going to Africa!-
Trish
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