How to establish good eaters early

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You won't die missing one meal. So if you didn't eat dinner, that's it. You don't get a snack. In the morning, you get to eat the usually and probably something you like. So you won't starve. If again you don't like dinner, same thing. No snack and go to bed. I will try to make something I know they will like just so they aren't malnourished. But I would make them eat that tiny bit of broccoli just because you have to. They don't have to like it, but they have to eat it. 2-4 years old was the hardest but now they are pretty good eaters at 11 & 9. They've been taught to be grateful for someone taking the time to cook for them.

How exactly do you make your child eat a particular food?

You don't, pp makes her kids fear her, and eat the food in fear.

[Anonymous]

Kids eat what the parents eat. No separate dinners. I'm the daughter of immigrants. That's how I was raised. That's how I raised my kids.

[Anonymous]

No separate meals.

They have to try everything on the plate to earn a small dessert, like a cookie.

Don't give up if they reject a certain food. It took over a year to convince my kids to eat mushrooms and now they will eat a plate of sautéed herbed mushrooms. Tastes change over time, and continued exposure helps. Don't give up on a food just because they reject it once.

Experiment with different ways of serving particular foods. They might dislike steamed Brussel sprouts yet devour it roasted.

[Anonymous]

If you have multiple kids, you can use the power of peer pressure in your favor.

I introduced new ways of preparing vegetables to my preschooler because I knew his older siblings loved them. They would tell him "take a bite! This creamed corn/Brussels sprouts with balsamic/roasted red pepper is so delicious!" and it persuaded him much better than I could.

On the other hand, a food they universally dislike will go the opposite. One will say "no thank you" after eating and it will roll like dominos around the dinner table.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DO NOT make separate food for your kids. Ever. Eventually they will eat more and more. I had to put salmon on my son's plate probably 30 times before he would even try a bite. He just ate the side dishes or whatever else was being served that he liked.

This.

I never served my kids separate food. We also ate out a lot on weekends...Indian, dim sum, Lebanese, etc. They were used to eating a variety of foods from the get-go.

I never served chicken fingers/Mac & cheese when they were toddlers.

This!! I have three kids. One super adventurous eater, one more picky and one in the middle. The picky eater is just more stubborn - she will refuse to eat something just because, even if she has had it before and likes it. I do not battle over food at all. I make one dinner, they can eat what they want from the options available. We eat out a lot and always have, so they are used to trying different types of food. 2 of my 3 like spicy food (ironically the most adventurous eater doesn’t like spicy food, but neither do I).

I do accommodate reasonable preferences. All 3 hate sautéed spinach because of the slimy texture, so I don’t cook it for them, l make some other veggie they will eat instead. One doesn’t like cheese sauce except Mac and cheese, so I keep sauce on the side for his portion. Small things that to me are different from making a separate meal. I hate olives so I would never mix them into a salad, and my DH hates walnuts so same deal.

I'm an adult who hates sautéed spinach too! It's totally fair to accommodate preferences like that, if they have given a food a shot a few times. Have you tried other forms of cooked spinach though? My kids will eat chicken Florentine pasta and we can work spinach into ravioli and lasagna too. But sautéed spinach gets a flat no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You won't die missing one meal. So if you didn't eat dinner, that's it. You don't get a snack. In the morning, you get to eat the usually and probably something you like. So you won't starve. If again you don't like dinner, same thing. No snack and go to bed. I will try to make something I know they will like just so they aren't malnourished. But I would make them eat that tiny bit of broccoli just because you have to. They don't have to like it, but they have to eat it. 2-4 years old was the hardest but now they are pretty good eaters at 11 & 9. They've been taught to be grateful for someone taking the time to cook for them.

How exactly do you make your child eat a particular food?

I agreed with PP until the “make them” comment. We don’t MAKE our kids eat anything. But if they want a treat, they have to try the broccoli.