I am done making dinner. I can spend 2 hours on dinner that is supposed to be "kid friendly and kid approved" on those stupid websites, but when it comes down eating it, my kids just look at it and push it away. Wow, that was a long sentence. I feel defeated. I don't want to feed my family all processed food, but it seems like it is the only thing they will eat. Just this morning I made something called Amish baked oatmeal aka "to die for yumminess". The boys ate one bite and wanted nothing to do with it. They will gobble down the sugar filled packets of nasty instant oatmeal in a second though.
Are my kids the only picky kids out there? Please help me.
4 comments:
Well, I have my own picky eater. We can talk strategy sometime; I won't fill up your comments section with all of the things I have tried. After years of effort, however, Jude is getting better. I consider it a (huge) success when he tries a bite of something new. I try to cook keeping in mind that he prefers to eat things that are separated. So if I'm making a noodle dish in which everything gets thrown together at the end with a sauce, I keep some out and separated for him.
we gave up cooking a long time ago.
ha! i mean, obviously, not all the way - but it's definitely a modified version of what we used to do. every season has it's own necessity.
it's hard to compete with sugar! & processed foods. the only thing that comes to mind is that if it's the only thing they're offered--eventually they'll get hungry enough to eat it? (yep, stellar advice here, eh?)
I honestly believe that kids *can* be retrained to think different food is yummy. As can adults (I am a good example of this!). But... I do think it takes some persistance and essentially saying, "sorry, this is what is served from here on out." And it takes time. I think finding a balance between processed and non-processed can be hard. The processed is so filled with sugar and salt, it can totally be a battle. One thing you can do is make your own instant oatmeal (google it, but it essential requires you to put your oats in the food processor. They may be having a hard time with the texture of the whole oats (b/c they aren't used to it). I read something that kids need to be exposed to the same food over and over and over (and over) again before they may decide to try/like it. So keep trying!
I also find compromises work pretty well. While I haven't gotten to the point of making my own mac and cheese (b/c I know the kids will probably resist it), I look for good deals on the Annie's brand mac and cheese (and um, my kids like the Deluxe -aka super creamy- kind), and then buy it in bulk. That way it's kinda processed, but not with a bunch of crap in it.
See you this week! yay!
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