Anonymous wrote:Big mistake to do this OP. Picky eaters are made, not born.

Do not become a short order cook for your kids.

They are not made. People have different preferences. Mine will eat most things as a teen but very picky. No big deal.

No. But we deconstruct for my 4 year old and have a backup dish of meatballs in fridge. Since shes still not into most chicken or fish proteins. 8 year old eats what we eat.

No. They eat what we're eating. I've never thought or considered making separate meals.

Anonymous wrote:Do you cook separate adult and kid meals? Mine are 5 & 7. I try to make sure there is one thing at every meal they both will eat but I don’t cook them their own dinner. Sometimes that means they don’t eat much. Is this typical?

This is what we do.

One thing I've been doing lately now that they're a bit older, is that if I know they won't like what I'm cooking, I'll include leftovers from the night before in what I put on the table.

So it's kind of cheating, but I don't do it very often.

A mix. Tonight I made fish sticks on the side because I knew they wouldn’t eat the main I was preparing for myself, my husband and my parents who were visiting.

Most dinners we eat together according to the kids limited palettes - meatballs and spaghetti, Chinese chicken and broccoli, pizza, sloppy Joe, roast chicken with veggies and rice, taco night, pasta night, etc.

My 6 year old is a picky eater but very active, typically doing 1 sport per day. About 50% of the time, I make a healthy meal that I know the whole family likes, the other 50% of the time I’m prepping something separate that I know is healthy and the kids will eat. Sometimes it’s a mix- I know my 3 year old loves the baked tofu cubes we put into our burritos tonight, while my 6 year old will only eat the rice and beans. I then fill in the kids plates with things like cucumbers, leftover pasta from the night before, nuggets, fruit, etc as needed. Occasionally I’ll make a brand new recipe for dinner (like lentil soup) and give some to the kids and they’ll surprise me and love it! It’s a bit mentally exhausting but important to me that the kids get solid nutrition.

Yes, we always cook something separate for at least 1, if not both, of the kids. I’ll put another $20 in the therapy jar.

What? No, of course not! My 7 year old is extremely picky but we make meals where we know she'll eat some portion of the whole meal but we never make something separate for her. Sometimes we'll modify a meal for her, like we'll take out some plain meat for her before we add the sauce or let her make a quesadilla on taco night.

Yes because my kid absolutely will not eat 95% of what we eat. I go through phases where I make meals she will eat a few nights a week but they never last because it's too hard. We start getting bored and frustrated with food that works for her narrow palate, and she fights hard against all of our favorites. It's not worth the battles.

We do get her to at least help make her dinner most nights. She'll often prepare 50-70% of it and we assist with anything tricky. She's always welcome to eat the food we eat, but she'd generally rather eat something much more bland and basic.

No. I try to have a a few options (protein and two sides) and if, after giving it a try and sitting at the table while we all eat if my picky eater says he’s still starving I will give him a pbj. And they can have a banana and milk before bed.

The pediatrician told me not to cook the kids a separate dinner so I don’t. A food psychologist talk that I went to also gave similar advice.

Sometimes I serve meals deconstructed where everyone can add what they want. Tonight I served a make your own taco bar and everyone picked their own toppings etc.

Of course not. When they were little and went to bed by 7pm they ate the previous night's leftovers for their earlier dinner at 5:30, but they were still eating the same thing we ate.

No, but I will serve things deconstructed.

Anonymous wrote:No never. I might vary the way it’s prepared to suit tastes but we eat the same thing. For example we had spinach tortellini tonight in homemade Alfredo sauce. She doesn’t like vegetables mixed in but will eat them on the side. So I cooked the broccoli then put hers on the plate with the pasta, then mixed the broccoli in the pasta/sauce for my own because I like it like that.

+1
This is how I’ve always done it, one meal, sometimes a bit deconstructed.

No. Not since they were aged 3 and 4. I didn’t enjoy eating at 6pm and getting back to work afterwards, but they were fine to eat at 7 by aged 8 and 9.