The job of a parent is a complex one. I always assumed that as long as I didn’t offer junk food and then exposed my kids to a variety of healthy foods that they would eat ‘almost’ anything I put in front of them.
That was before my first child started eating solids…
Although far more difficult than I ever imagined, I’m stubborn and continue to work at this.
Here are a few tricks that have worked for me lately:
Giving an ordinary meal, a cool name.
- We call quesadilla’s “cheesy triangles”. Xander was obsessed with shapes at the time.
- Snowball soup. We made a delicious ham and navy bean soup this winter. Xander has never been a bean eater and Keegan is iffy. But the idea of eating “snowballs” completely won them over and they devoured my experimental soup!
When we are out and about, I’ve had great success with getting my kids to eat their veggies. When we are at the zoo or botanical gardens the first thing I pull out for them to snack on is red pepper strips, carrot sticks or peas. Even if they are not currently into those veggies at home, I’ve found that if that disappear quickly when that is the only option on the road.
Of course, creative planning can backfire. My grandpa told my dad and uncle that lima beans would make them fly. A broken collar bone after a flying attempt from their roof was the proof that this was not true…
Any tips out there. I’d love to hear what has worked for you or on you. I know my mom pulled all kinds of tricks on us. But it’s late and I can’t remember any of them right now…
Rachel, Adah could very well be different… (hope springs eternal, right?) While we can’t very well MAKE them like whatever we want, as parents we are still highly influential!!!
Stephanie, I loved all of your ideas. The seasoning salt thing is genius. And with it being lemon season, I’ll have to try giving them lemon wedges to squeeze on their veggies!
Gin, my boys would be all over ‘cakebread’.
I love these ideas!!! I also like the fact that they are EASY! Thanks for sharing!
ah Heather my bubble has been burst…you mean we can’t just make our kids like what we want them to like… I have kinda held on to that hope… I guess instead I’ll have to learn creative tips like these. Thanks for sharing them! π
hey! love the renaming idea! we eat cakebread (aka cornbread) and cheese pie (quiche filled with broccoli or spinach and meat and cheese)…they love it! lately it seems as though peas had been outlawed, so i started just breaking them out of the freezer and serving them like little ice balls…they disappear quickly!
That’s so funny! I thought the same thing too! (I guess better to learn these things sooner than later!)
I love the renaming idea, though!
I hated peas as a kid, and I was DELIGHTED to find out Grandma “didn’t care for them” either. She said they tasted better with seasoning salt, so I tried it and they suddenly seemed edible! It’s the only way I’d eat them for a long time!
She also introduced me to carrots and celery dipped in Ranch dressing – yum!
Ok, something else you could try at dinner – lemon juice. It’s really good on cauliflower and other cooked veggies. Lots of kids love lemons, so….think it’s worth a shot?