Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Deal or no deal?


I have a picky eater. Tobin sticks to a specific menu of "kid friendly" food. Most nights he doesn't eat dinner because we just fix one family meal and he has to sit at the table with us but it's up to him to choose to eat. I was a picky eater as a kid too. And my mom handled it great. Food wasn't made into a big deal. I was never forced to clean my plate but was taught to try take small portions and go back for more if I wanted it. With Tobin my approach has been to always offer veggies with meals, and to limit snacks and sweets. I offer it and let him be in control weather or not he trys new things. But after tossing pounds and pounds of vegetables away over the years, I am desperate to get him to experiment. So today for lunch I made him this proposal. . . If he tried one kernel of corn (pretty safe veggie) he could have a Hershes kiss. I thought this was a great deal and after a few minutes of pumping himself up, He did it. He ate a piece of corn. And then gobbled his chocolate to get rid of the taste. Sometimes it's amazing to me that he is growing and healthy, maybe it's the gummy bear vitamins? What to do?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah, the picky eater. We have one too. Right now she is eating some mac-n-cheese, but most nights she goes without dinner too. At least she's hungry for breakfast, and she loves cereal!

Alida said...

I can so relate to this one. Luke is sooo picky, as was I. I have pictures of me in tears and my mom holding a spoonful of something in front of me. I have issues and I'm trying really hard not to pass them along. I console myself by knowing that I offer healthy choices (and gummy vitamins), and by the fact that I now LOVE food.

Anonymous said...

That's a puzzler, for sure. For our family, for most meals everyone is required to eat a fruit or vegetable. I try to put out two choices, and then they just have to choose one.

I don't make them eat large portions of things they don't like, but they have to try everything offered at the meal. Just one bite, and sometimes they are surprised and they actually like something they didn't think they would.

Keep us posted on the progress and if you make any new discoveries!