The truth of the matter is I did try, though I wasn't consulting any parenting books on that topic.
Instead, I have books like "Good Enough to Eat. A kid's guide to food and nutrition." and Annabel Karmel's "Mom and Me Cookbook. Have fun in the kitchen!" I thought, instead of Mommy doing the reading, I should involve my kids in some literature that celebrates the goodness of food.
It worked for Bryan, however, not so well with Kristin.
Since these two books, we've come a long way: From studying the human anatomy of the digestive system to counting jelly beans on the table. With time, Bryan has changed from a plain-rice-only eater to an everything-goes boy. But Kristin... she still needs to be coaxed to pick up her spoon. Sometimes, it can really become crazy that she'd rather cry in the bathroom for 5 minutes and then return to the table willingly to start her meal, rather than a "Yes, Mommy, I'll give it a try." Strange thing is she likes to make a scene. Maybe she needs a little drama before she starts a meal. But no thanks, nope... I will not let my kids eat in front of the telly.
Coincidentally, another mommy-friend sent me this link to an article titled "6 Food Mistakes Parents Make" in NY Times. Clearly, we are comrades in the same struggle... everyday, three times a day!
What do you do/read when your children won't eat?
6 comments:
i used to have this problem all the time, 2 approaches that worked for us:
1) autocratic style - don't eat the food, don't get any food. we took it away, when they're really hungry, they will eat it.
2) give some sort of choice - we always say you must eat veg, so if they don't like the broccoli, they have to eat more of the carrots (if that's what you;re serving of course! too leh-cheh to specially cook).
Must have worked cos now my kids are great adventurous eaters, they even love foie gras and stinky cheese when my French friend serves it up!
Maybe it's just a phase, a really long phase of fussy eating. Nice to know that it actually improves over time, Monica! My son looks like a worm these days, with a big head and a skinny body!
Cindy, I'm trying vinegar these days. Japanese sweetened fruit vinegar. It seems to result in a penchant for ... frozen pizza and 10pm!! Whatever works!
I'm a huge failure in this area. My kids eat tonnes when it's what they like but would rather go without while retching when it's food they hate. Brian has improved tonnes, he loves most kinds of vegetables now, and is willing to try quite a bit of new things. Sean omigosh, it's torture with him. He just loves his egg and rice, and oranges for dessert. Will not try anything new. Yesterday we had Korean, and he went without.
All of us are fussy eaters lah actually. Once a friend was at my house, and saw me cooking 3 different meals for 3 of them (sons and father). Sometimes when I'm lazy and want to cook something simple (other than instant noodles), I get a headache. You see, Sean loves fried rice while Brian retches if it's fried rice. Brian loves spaghetti while Sean will burst out crying if he sees this served. They really can't give me a break.
Yay! We are not alone in this battle!
Sure looks like picky eaters will improve over time... so let's press on!
I guess I'm lucky cos Nathaly, in general, is pretty easy when it comes to food.
On the few occasions when she's difficult, I'll do as Monica does - take away her food. When she's hungry she'll eat - the same food she had refused earlier. Food is not a battle I want to fight.
Maybe the trick is to try as much variety as possible - I hardly ever cook the same thing often. If she doesn't like something, try to prepare it in a different way.
And no, she doesn't eat in front of the telly too. In fact, I'm quite a stickler for eating together as a family at the dining table.
Nathaly is very lucky too cos her parents cook well! :)
Wow... I'd like to eat at your home, and your blog is full of recipe ideas too...
Funny thing with my picky eaters, they only eat repeated menus, i.e. they are not adventurous at all, at least in the case of my kids. My kids will choose to go without... Can you imagine Kristin ate nothing when we were in NYC??!!! Nothing at all!... and she woke up in the middle of the wintry nights crying for milk. I know kids get a little too excited on vacation, but that was just too much! And of course, the painful part was that I couldn't let her cry it out at night since we weren't at our own home. She sure knows how to hold her parents to ransom when it comes to food.
My kids are really sensitive to texture of food... and for Kristin, Alan and I believe she has secret compartments in her mouth to sieve out the different ingredients.
Anyway... she's not skin and bones. And I have learnt not to count her food intake by the day, but by the week... That at least makes me feel less guilty.
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