Anonymous wrote:

I"m just throwing this out there because I constantly hear the advice about how your kids should "eat what you eat." But they don't want to! It does't taste good to them -- they have brand new taste buds, so strong flavors are too much for them, plus kids naturally gravitate towards foods that are sweeter and simpler. I figure as they get older they will naturally become more interested in more adult flavors and start to eat more of our foods.

I have every faith you know your own kids best, OP, and this may be true for them, but then to presume it's true for all kids is more than a bit of a stretch. I've known toddlers who grew up on spiced curries, and southwestern chiles, and who have adventurous palates, and some who do not.

You can say it's right for your kids without making rules about how it has to be for all the other kids, you know?

I am from a culture that is known for its very spicy dishes and even we start out serving the children milder food and gradually add the spice in. OP isn't necessarily wrong in this regard, she might have just said it in a weird way.

Anonymous wrote:I like PP’s point, but I believe the moral of the story here is to relax and not agonize too much over principles, but rather take a pragmatic approach.

Which in my house means no short order cooking.

+1

In our house there is just “food.” No such thing as “adult” or “kid” food.

Do what works for you, but we end up just serving our picky eater the same food we are eating slightly modified (she'll eat pasta without the sauce, I'll roast veggies separately from the meat, etc.). I suppose that's to that different from what you do, but it seems easier than making completely different food.

Anonymous wrote:Oh FFS. What do you think kids eat all over the world, and have done for thousands of years? They eat the cuisine of their culture, spicy though it may be.

Sorry your kids are picky, OP, but don't pretend all children are like this. And don't pretend your choice to cater to them isn't part of why your kids are picky.

This.

Some kids truly are very picky, often driven by sensory-based issues. Most “picky” eaters have their picky eating reinforced by parents who cater to them. Not all, but many.

Oh FFS. What do you think kids eat all over the world, and have done for thousands of years? They eat the cuisine of their culture, spicy though it may be.

Sorry your kids are picky, OP, but don't pretend all children are like this. And don't pretend your choice to cater to them isn't part of why your kids are picky.

Figure out what works for your kids, and your family. That’s great! But don’t act like you making pronouncements about what other people should do is remotely productive. Not a good look, OP.

My kids try everything, they eat most things, and when they don’t like what’s for dinner that night enough to make a meal, they can have something else as long as they have given it a fair try. That is what works for OUR family. My kids eat a wide variety of food.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I"m just throwing this out there because I constantly hear the advice about how your kids should "eat what you eat." But they don't want to! It does't taste good to them -- they have brand new taste buds, so strong flavors are too much for them, plus kids naturally gravitate towards foods that are sweeter and simpler. I figure as they get older they will naturally become more interested in more adult flavors and start to eat more of our foods.

I have every faith you know your own kids best, OP, and this may be true for them, but then to presume it's true for all kids is more than a bit of a stretch. I've known toddlers who grew up on spiced curries, and southwestern chiles, and who have adventurous palates, and some who do not.

You can say it's right for your kids without making rules about how it has to be for all the other kids, you know?

Sure. But I think OP's point is that a lot of other people are VERY adamant that feeding kids the adult food is the one right way to do it.

I do what OP does because my youngest is so picky he won't even eat a lot of carbs (today's mac and cheese had the "wrong cheese" - we were digging through the fridge for any cheese - and he won't eat any rice either) and usually only drinks water. He had fallen off his growth chart and the pediatrician said he needs to gain more weight. I'm not going to die on the hill of "no special dinners" and "we all eat the same thing" when we're at the point of medical concerns.

It's a little odd to go from dogmatic to dogmatic, then.

Different kids need different things. Claiming all kids need The One True Thing (TM) is just as wrong when i's one thing as the other. Neither are nuanced approaches.

OP, it sounds like you’re doing what most people recommend: serving some new things with some things they like. When people recommend not making separate kids meals, they don’t mean “don’t include so least one kid friendly dish in your meal” they mean “don’t go out of your way to make fish sticks if they decide they want that more than the kid friendly dish you’ve already made tonight.”

That being said, I agree with PP: you know your kids best and it’s awesome you’ve got a system that works for your family. FWIW, my oldest won’t eat meat but will eat any plant based protein or vegetable so long as I douse it in curry. So your theory that all little kids only like carbs/bland things isn’t universal.

Anonymous wrote:

I"m just throwing this out there because I constantly hear the advice about how your kids should "eat what you eat." But they don't want to! It does't taste good to them -- they have brand new taste buds, so strong flavors are too much for them, plus kids naturally gravitate towards foods that are sweeter and simpler. I figure as they get older they will naturally become more interested in more adult flavors and start to eat more of our foods.

I have every faith you know your own kids best, OP, and this may be true for them, but then to presume it's true for all kids is more than a bit of a stretch. I've known toddlers who grew up on spiced curries, and southwestern chiles, and who have adventurous palates, and some who do not.

You can say it's right for your kids without making rules about how it has to be for all the other kids, you know?

Sure. But I think OP's point is that a lot of other people are VERY adamant that feeding kids the adult food is the one right way to do it.

I do what OP does because my youngest is so picky he won't even eat a lot of carbs (today's mac and cheese had the "wrong cheese" - we were digging through the fridge for any cheese - and he won't eat any rice either) and usually only drinks water. He had fallen off his growth chart and the pediatrician said he needs to gain more weight. I'm not going to die on the hill of "no special dinners" and "we all eat the same thing" when we're at the point of medical concerns.

I think it’s cultural. My husband and I come from different cultures, both without kids menus or special kids meals. Our kids eat everything and have since they were babies. Seafood, liver, kale, mushrooms, spicy food — they eat everything and will try anything. The key for us was 1) always serve a variety so they don’t get used to any one thing in those “picky” phases and 2) don’t give in to demands. When our oldest was one they would wail for pancakes sometimes. Nope. You eat what everyone eats. Eventually when they learned that after a week or so it never happened again. We also always served vegetables first and limited snacks.

My tastebuds aren’t the same as they were when I was little, and neither are my siblings’, but the change isn’t because our mom made us clean our plates. If that worked, we’d all like the same foods now, and we definitely don’t

Anonymous wrote:

I"m just throwing this out there because I constantly hear the advice about how your kids should "eat what you eat." But they don't want to! It does't taste good to them -- they have brand new taste buds, so strong flavors are too much for them, plus kids naturally gravitate towards foods that are sweeter and simpler. I figure as they get older they will naturally become more interested in more adult flavors and start to eat more of our foods.

Of course they do. But for me, I felt it was important to introduce my kids to different types of sweetness. There is pasta sweet, cake sweet, tomato sweet, watermelon sweet. It's also important to realize that not all food tastes sweet. There's nothing wrong with simply prepared food--grilled/baked chicken + steamed vegetables = simple. I disagree with you that as they get older they naturally become more interested in adult flavors. Why should they change their eating habits as they become older if it's been working for them so far.

I like PP’s point, but I believe the moral of the story here is to relax and not agonize too much over principles, but rather take a pragmatic approach.

Which in my house means no short order cooking.

I"m just throwing this out there because I constantly hear the advice about how your kids should "eat what you eat." But they don't want to! It does't taste good to them -- they have brand new taste buds, so strong flavors are too much for them, plus kids naturally gravitate towards foods that are sweeter and simpler. I figure as they get older they will naturally become more interested in more adult flavors and start to eat more of our foods.

I have every faith you know your own kids best, OP, and this may be true for them, but then to presume it's true for all kids is more than a bit of a stretch. I've known toddlers who grew up on spiced curries, and southwestern chiles, and who have adventurous palates, and some who do not.

You can say it's right for your kids without making rules about how it has to be for all the other kids, you know?

I don't get the advice to always serve your kids what the adults are eating. They don't want to eat it! We always put some of whatever we made on their plates but there are only a handful of things that we eat that they actually like and will eat more than a couple bites of (mostly simple pasta dishes). They don't complain, they just kind of eat around what we serve, fill up on milk and whatever carb is on the table, and that's it.

So I pretty much always serve them kid-friendly foods (healthy stuff -- yogurt and granola, pasta with simple pesto/red/butter sauce, a variety of fruits, whole grains, etc.) and they mostly just eat that. We always encourage them to try everything on the table unless it's an item they have an established aversion to. They will eat a bite of our main dish and will pick at some veggies, and then they fill up on a variety of the other stuff. It's all things that are easy to serve and we meal prep on the weekend, so it doesn't require extra effort. Though about once a week I'll also prep something I know they love and serve that as well. Like this week I did a batch of banana and oat pancakes that are easy to heat up and they love them plus they are a really healthy main course option (that DH and I have zero interest in eating -- we are having tacos for dinner and our kids hate tacos).

When we do hit on an item we all like, we obviously make it more often, but like I said this is mostly super simple pasta dishes, like spaghetti and meatballs, and we can't make them every single night.

I"m just throwing this out there because I constantly hear the advice about how your kids should "eat what you eat." But they don't want to! It does't taste good to them -- they have brand new taste buds, so strong flavors are too much for them, plus kids naturally gravitate towards foods that are sweeter and simpler. I figure as they get older they will naturally become more interested in more adult flavors and start to eat more of our foods.

I think it's especially damaging for families who have picky eaters (which is not something you can control -- one of my kids is much picker than the other and it's just a personality thing) who feel a lot of pressure for their kids to eat "adult" foods and it's just not a reasonable epxtations for most kids. My two cents.