Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Smoke and Mirrors

As many of you know, we have a picky eater on our hands.  Now, Kale has always been an excellent sleeper and potty training him was a breeze, but he's sure got me on this eating thing.
I was "that mom" that made all of his baby food when he was starting out on foods.  I'd heard that it was a sure fire way to a good eater.  Bah ha, ha, ha.  He ate everything I'd made: cauliflower, blueberries, beans, peas, squash, you name it.  But somewhere, somehow, all that changed.
Lots of moms assure me that their once picky eaters are now great eaters, but I've also heard about the other side of the coin;  Once a picky eater, always a picky eater.
 
So I've struggled with what to do about this.  What is the right answer?  If you ask friends or read the internet, you get the gammet of opinions:
1.Provide only what the family is eating.  Period.
2. Provide what the family is eating and say they must try one bite.  If they don't like it, they can be excused.
3.  Provide what the family is eating and say they must try one bite.  If they don't like it, they can say "No thank you" and be provided a peanut butter sandwich.
4.  Provide a new food on the plate along with at least two other items you know they will eat.
5.  Make them a different meal from the family that you know they will eat.
Etc. etc. etc.
 
Okay, folks, I know there is no one right answer and that each family will do what works best for them but this does not help my situation.  I want Kale to enjoy a variety of foods that are good for him and I don't want it to be a battle.
 
While we're at it, does anyone find it ironic that our son, Kale, who shares the name with a green, leafy vegetable, does not like the aforementioned??!?!?
 
So in the meantime, until I get all of this figured out (as if...), I work my mama magician skills.  I hide good foods in foods he likes.  This makes me incredibly nervous because I wonder if by adding a new ingredient to a food he currently likes will then lead him to no longer like that food either.  But, I charge on.
 
One of his current favorite staples is pancakes.  I got bold and added pureed bananas to the batter.  He was none the wiser.  (That's right, he does not like bananas).
 
On to try number two.  Chocolately Velvet BEET Cupcakes with frosting that also contains beet puree.  I found the recipe in Parenting Magazine and comes from the website weelicious.com.  The cupcakes turned out really good and tasted amazing.  The frosting recipe left much to be desired, in my opinion but I decided to frost the cupcakes and give it a shot.  I gave Kale his first cupcake today and sort of held my breath and watched him out of the corner of my eye.
What do you know, "Mikey likes it." 
 
I might have to see what other mama magician tricks I've got up my sleeve. 
 
Fellow magicians, er, mamas, what recipes have worked well for you with your picky eaters?


7 comments:

Jill said...

What works for us most of the time (not always) is that they don't get desert unless they eat whats on the plate the number of bites per their age of the things they don't like. My kids usually just suck it up and eat whatever it is they don't like once they see the others eating desert and they are not. BUT you get those times when they will just say no to the food and no to desert as well.

Life of the Lorenzens said...

I don't have any sage advice since I feel like I'm sort of in the same boat (only not quite to the same extreme). Right now I'm planning pretty likeable menus with a few twists here and there which are most often met by whining/complaints/drama from Emily and are totally ignored (choosing to go hungry) by Lincoln. Sigh.

Unknown said...

I try to hype up the veggies - tell stories about them, how much I love some, try to steal them off the kiddos plates. For our almost 2 year old Rowan that works fine - he doesn't want anyone to steal his food. For 5 year old Willow we explain the importance of veggies and how they help her grow to be strong and usually break down into asking her to have a number of bites of veggies. No silver bullet. I worry it's a line if you push too hard they won't ever like veggies. Excitement growing and picking his own this summer may help him. Good luck!

Sarah Craft said...

Jerry Seinfeld's wife, Jessica, has a book out with tons of sneaky recipes. I tried some out and most didn't pass the smell test around here. I think it is pretty easy to sneak squash puree into mac and cheese. I also dice up veggies super small sometimes and hide them in dishes. BUT, CJ doesn't eat much at all so I don't know how good I'm really doing. Good luck!

Leigh F. said...

My mom used to diced up carrots, onions, celery, and other veggies into casseroles or wherever she could hide it. She had a lot of explaining to do when we called to find out why our meals just didn't taste as good as hers when we used the same recipe. The sneaky Mom bit worked for us and we love our veggies now!

Farmgirl Chaos said...

Well, I'll let you know. Sometimes you don't out grow being a picky eater. Yes, I still try new things. But there are just some things I won't try. :)
I lived with a family for while where the kids got different food than the parents. So instead of preparing one evening meal, it was 2! That seemed crazy to me. But when those same kids were with me at the farm to visit, they ate what was served, and even asked for seconds.
Something else to think about when you learn your little guy doesn't like a food...is it the texture? Trust me, there are foods I want to eat, have tried to eat, but can't eat. When you have an unfortunate reflex because of it's texture, there isn't much you can do about it. :)

Heather's Henhouse said...

I think I'm doomed for Ali to be a picky eater because so far my other two eat pretty good. We have the one bite rule but usually they need at least two bites before they really taste it. Wish I had great advice, but I don't.