Finicky children

I had the problem at the other end of the wage spectrum. My 80+ year old inlaws were very picky eaters and could no longer cook for themselves.

Trust me: http://www.thesneakychef.com/

They eventually will get hungry!
My house you ate what was made or went without.
We weren't allowed to be picky. We were taught food costs money.

Feed him/her what you want to. When he/she is hungry, they will eat.

He is 11 next month. Junk food is very limited in the house because I will eat it. I am not tall, lean on meds that kill my appetite and definitely do NOT have a high metabolism.

He drinks milk if it is forced on him or in cereal.

I guess wait and see. Hard to hide veggies in plain rice.

My Mom, Aunt, etc. told me I ate like a bird when I was a kid. When we went to family gatherings (and even at home) I'd have food on my plate where there wasn't any room left, and they'd just spoon some more stuff on top of that and say EAT!

Now they are so heavy they can hardly get up out of a chair...and they were raised in the Depression Era where physical work was the norm. Part of them being heavy can be due to genetics though...I'm a skinny minnie but I'm adopted.

Just let him eat what he wants, as long as it's healthy and within reason, and don't shove food down his throat.

Has he seen an allergist? It may be more than a matter of taste.

Does he eat between meals?

Maybe he's bored with what's being offered up. I'm not sure whether i'd have been considered finicky but there are foods i still won't eat based on texture and taste. I do know i was absolutely bored with the options, didn't need a calendar to know what day of the week it was, just needed to know what was for supper.

Maybe a power play, the one area of life he has some control over.

Friends, serious carnivores, their son now maybe 6'4", 200lbs, employed as a forest fire fighter, a life long vegetarian, never ever a meat eater, he'd try it but no interest or desire. Was never a big deal, he did fine, always loads of fresh fruit, vegetables, breads, cheeses and other quality foods available.

Our daughter was/is a totally fearless eater. My wife and i had zero culinary heritage to adhere to. As lovers of cooking and eating we've been constant experimenters/explorers and that's what she saw. Every week something new none of us had ever tried before, everyone's 'bleh' carried equal weight. Even if it was something we all thought was pretty good chances are we wouldn't have it again because there are too many new things to try. She'd try anything, i can't recall a single refusal. Her opinion, good bad or indifferent was always encouraged as she's a good critic even as a little kid.

She went at least once a week with me to the farmers market from the time she was 6 months old until she was in grade one and in school all day. She was involved in the shopping for foods and had/has a say in weekly menu planning. In grade seven she announced she wanted to eat vegetarian, i showed her all our vegetarian cookbooks, bought a subscription to a vegetarian magazine and told i'd cook her anything she wanted... as long as she supplied me with the recipes. Didn't happen, she just kept rolling with the flow and eating vegetarian/vegan whenever that's how we felt like cooking.

If the house is stocked with good quality nutritious food and that's where your son is doing all his eating, there shouldn't be much to worry about.

Model good eating habits, set a good example.

dave

My parents didn't have that problem, we ate what Mom cooked. And we pretty much ate all that she cooked. I was raised with a Sicilian Grandmother, Great Grandmother Aunts and Uncles, so It was good eatin'. It didn't hurt that my Grandfather worked at Armour, he brought home a lot of good meat.

I empathize with your problem - my daughter is exceptionally picky. Her diet consists virtually exclusively of-

Protein (hot dog, cheddar, occasionally salami or Round Table sausage pizza topping, or certain brands of yogurt)
Fruits (strawberries, maybe grapes or raspberries)
Vegetables (cucumbers with salt, occasionally carrot sticks)
Grains (pasta with Parmesan all day long, or Rice Chex style cereal)

Practically, her fruit and vegetable intake borders on zero.

We did see a pediatric nutritionist years ago; they wanted her to eat "3 bites" of different foods. Now that she's older, this has a backfiring potential (trial foods are to get the treat, not for the enjoyment of expanding her diet) so I have stopped that. I try to follow the "I decide where'when/what we eat, she decides whether to eat/how much" rule. I certainly cave in from time to time as I worry about her quite a bit.

As she is growing well, I hope that her diet dramatically broadens when she gets to be a teenager. In this specific instance, I am rooting for peer pressure!

I used to be picky, but nothing like her. Somewhere, someone is laughing their head off . . .

Hang in there, and good luck!

Good advice. Thanks. Lots of talking going on at home about eating better. He shrugged his shoulders and downed three peaches. I guess I will just have to watch and suggest strongly that he try other things.

Growing up I was only picky when it came to color. I still cannot eat anything cooked that is bright orange. Cooked carrots, squash, sweet potatoes are all not going on my plate or in my mouth. I guess he got it from me.

I've never figured out why my mom would ever take perfectly delicious raw carrots and turn them into unpalatable mush by boiling them.

dave

natenaaron said:

...child?

...Any thoughts?

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You could try playing games.
Play games with food: trying to guess what food they chew without seeing it. Have them close their eyes while you feed them whatever. I used to prepare huge bowls with fruits, cut up bite size, and feed them that way. They always had a blast when I would slip a piece of cheese or anything unrelated to the bulk of stuff.
Pretend, play, do whatever it takes to entertain them. Tell stories, stage your own puppet show, etc.

Try to outsmart them.Good luck.

Kids who are raised eating junk, will always want to eat junk. I see it happening when visiting my friends' homes at dinner time. Me and my brother were not allowed fast food until we were 12 years old, and by that time we already had developed our own food preferences. That's not to say we didn't eat burgers or occasionally fries, but compared to other kids we ate healthy food out of our own free will. I especially didn't drink much soda and juice compared to my friends. But we were definitely guided to behave that way, and I think that parents should help their kids develop healthy eating habits.

I read a couple comments that said the same

Mom: "Eat what I cooked if you don't like it go to bed hungry."

She'd go as far as saving your plate in the fridge and the next meal at the house you'd have that same plate from the night before

You learned to choke down what you didn't like and ask for seconds of things you did

There are kids that are picky eaters. No matter how hard you try, they just won't eat what you want them to. This goes for kids that eat junk food and those that are only given healthy choices. Here's the thing.....there is nothing wrong with them. I read an article in the New York Times on this topic some time ago, and they made the point that picky eaters don't die of starvation. Frustrating??? Heck yes (believe me, I know). Life and death???? Nope.

My teenager is still picky, but she has a much more varied diet than when she was 6. We chose not to force her to eat what we gave her, so we did not make food some disciplinary thing and the subject of a power play. You can't force them to eat (not even for foie gras ). So we let her eat as much/little as she wanted, made a lot of the same things, and when she asked to try something new, always said yes, even if she ended up hating/not eating it. It will get better. Just try to go with the flow.

I really wouldn't worry too much. I was a finicky eater also, but over time I just expanded my food choices, and today I'll eat most food with some exceptions. Let him develop his likes over time, is my opinion.

I grew up eating flounder, venison, shrimp, speckled trout, feral hog, eggos, cinnamon toast, fruit loops, captain crunch, honeycomb cereal, snap green beans, fried oysters, cowboy stew, pinto beans, black-eyed beans, fish sticks, dew berries, black berries, raspberries, blue berries, any and all Mexican food, chefboyardee ravioli, little Debbie's, pez candy, baseball card gum, ice cream sandwiches, RC cola, corn on the cob, craw dads, homemade ice cream, licorice, chili, carabou, elk, bear, snake, carp, javelina, alligator, frogs legs, duck, dove, quail, bass, crappie, catfish, liver, chicken livers, sardines, spam, Bologna, salami, pork chops, beef steaks, chicken, turkey, beets, any and all veggies (except canned spinach). Oh, and pizza or spaghetti.

All before 8.

I wasn't picky at all.

DoctorShavegood said:

I grew up eating flounder, venison, shrimp, speckled trout, feral hog, eggos, cinnamon toast, fruit loops, captain crunch, honeycomb cereal, snap green beans, fried oysters, cowboy stew, pinto beans, black-eyed beans, fish sticks, dew berries, black berries, raspberries, blue berries, any and all Mexican food, chefboyardee ravioli, little Debbie's, pez candy, baseball card gum, ice cream sandwiches, RC cola, corn on the cob, craw dads, homemade ice cream, licorice, chili, carabou, elk, bear, snake, carp, javelina, alligator, frogs legs, duck, dove, quail, bass, crappie, catfish, liver, chicken livers, sardines, spam, Bologna, salami, pork chops, beef steaks, chicken, turkey, beets, any and all veggies (except canned spinach). Oh, and pizza or spaghetti.

All before 8.

I wasn't picky at all.

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Sounds like my childhood diet.

burg1198 said:

Sounds like my childhood diet.

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and fried eggs with hash browns, bacon, buttermilk biscuits with gravy and Fried green tomatoes.