Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I know right! I would have loved to have that list.
There is some excellent advice on here, I have to agree. Don't worry about it, they grow up and eat you out of house and home soon enough.
Had a friend who's boy only ate cheese sandwiches! He's a fine healthy young man now. We all thought he would surely turn to mush. lol
You can try switching the chicken to veggie nuggets. I did that and my son was none the wiser. He loved them.
Even without consuming vegetables, they can get nutrients from other foods and a vitamin.
I also have "hidden" vegetables in spaghetti sauces and macaroni, as has been mentioned earlier, a la the Missy Lapine (Sneaky Chef) and Jessica Seinfeld cookbooks. The only recipe that didn't go over (my picky eater was 12 by this time, but my then-5-yr-old loved them!) was the brownies with spinach added. Texture issue.
Generally, though, picky eaters of this magnitude have real objections to texture or color changes, and even whole-grain noodles won't be an acceptable substitute.
I think treating the food pyramid as a must-do checklist for a kid every single day sets up unrealistic expectations and leads parents toward feelings of failure.
Kids know better what their bodies need than their parents. I also say back off, stop worrying about it. Offer new foods at dinner time, one small spoonful with the requirement that he has to taste everything. He will throw a fit, make funny faces but in the end he will train his tastebuds. Offer foods he will eat along with a multi-vitamin and leave him be.
A lot of kids have food sensitivities either that cause abdominal issues or even just texture issues. It would be worth it to do some research on sensory disorders and use some techniques from that research with your child. One thing that is often used with kids with texture issues and food is chewing on a deflated rubber balloon (yes I know, a balloon but he is 7 not 2).
My youngest liked what he liked and while I wouldn't call him picky (nor would I call your son picky) and he would eat plenty of the things he likes and is now 6' tall and a whopping 122 lbs. He has always been thin and probably always will be thin but he is healthy and that is really what is of concern, not so much how much he weighs. Your son weighs about what he did at the same age. We also encouraged high fat snacks, ice cream with him mostly. He is just fine.
One "mean" thing I used to do to my kids, I would put out apple slices, carrots, oranges, before dinner, when they are hungry. I also used to say no to ice cream, unless they had eaten a piece of fruit and a vegetable that day. No fruit that day? Grab a banana. then, you can have ice cream with it.
You pair a yummy food that they like, with a "new" food.
My seven-year-old is picky too. It drives me insane. I really hope he outgrows it. The replies are comforting ... thanks.
I was a VERY picky eater when I was a kid. PB&J-every-day kind of picky. My mother gave me a multi and a squirt of cod liver oil under the tongue every day.
Hate to say this but a lot of picky eating is because Mom and/or Dad are lousy cooks. My brother was also a picky eater and both of us agree we were picky because our Mother had absolutely NO talent in the kitchen. Wonderful mother. Tremendously awful cook.
One "mean" thing I used to do to my kids, I would put out apple slices, carrots, oranges, before dinner, when they are hungry. I also used to say no to ice cream, unless they had eaten a piece of fruit and a vegetable that day. No fruit that day? Grab a banana. then, you can have ice cream with it.
You pair a yummy food that they like, with a "new" food.
So this is the kind of thing I would do before I actually had a picky eater. My son would rather skip an entire days worth of dinner than eat something he doesn't like. And on top of that if you force him (ie you can't get up from the table unless you try the asparagus) he'd gag on it and throw up all over the table...
Hmm, seems you have been given advice, but don't like what you are hearing. I'm not sure exactly what you'd like us to say that is going to be accpetable to you.
Exactly.
Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't.
I was a very picky kid because I was allowed to be.
I am not raising my kids that way because (1) I'm not a short-order cook, and (2) I don't want them to be like I was.
As for sensory issues, there is not a kid starving in the whole world because of sensory issues. If you're hungry, you eventually eat.
Only in America do we have such syndromes.
Last edited by Alltheusernamesaretaken; 02-22-2012 at 12:29 PM..
So this is the kind of thing I would do before I actually had a picky eater. My son would rather skip an entire days worth of dinner than eat something he doesn't like. And on top of that if you force him (ie you can't get up from the table unless you try the asparagus) he'd gag on it and throw up all over the table...
What is wrong with skipping an entire dinner?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
