Reply to If you don't eat many processed foods, what do you feed your kids?

Forum Index » Infants, Toddlers, & Preschoolers

Reply to "If you don't eat many processed foods, what do you feed your kids?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I agree with PPs, feed your child what you eat in smaller portions, less spicy (if you like that).  People comment all the time that my 5 yr old has adult taste and generally he doesn't choose hot dogs, chicken nuggets, french fries and other foods people consider kid food.  I eat hot dogs and french fries occasionally so I am not militant, but my child developed a taste for whole, minimally processed foods from our choices.  Start out with fruits, veggies (steamed and/or raw), beans, greek yogurt and grains.  As a toddler we introduced more complex foods and never prepare separate meals for him.  He eats green salad like a champ![/quote]

Exactly. The problem w/ trying to make healthy versions of traditional kid foods (besides being kind of a pain, unless you like them too) is that you are really helping shape your kid's idea of what food is, what it looks like, and what it tastes like at that age. Obviously, some kids are pickier than others (I have one of them), but once you get to toddlerhood and beyond, many kids prefer the familiar. A child who is used to eating chicken nuggets and fish sticks and mac and cheese, even if they're organic and homemade w/ chicken breast/whole wheat flour or pasta or whatever, is probably going to recognize those foods as familiar and prefer them, even when faced with less healthy versions. I always think of chicken nuggets as being the Ultimate Delicious Kid Food, so on DD's second birthday we took her out and let her get them from the kid's menu-- she made a face and ended up eating all my salmon, which she was used to eating from Day 1.

FWIW, though, she still hates a lot of our adult foods-- she doesn't eat green salad like a champ, that's for sure!-- but it is nice to hear stories like this about older children and know that with time, kids adjust to the diets they're fed. All kids do, really. It's why my nieces and nephews who are growing up in South India enjoy dishes so spicy they make my daughter cry.[/quote]

My husband loves spicy food and around 3.5-4 yrs old my son started eating spicy food (especially Indian and Thai food just like dad!) and a greater variety of seafood beyond salmon (steamed clams/mussels, etc.).  And yes, my son does love salad (but not iceberg lettuce, which I hate!) but there are foods he won't touch, like peas and potatoes.  I don't make him eat everything as long as he continues eat a variety of foods.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics