I have a picky eater and one thing some of you who are judging may not understand is that picky eaters tend to get MUCH pickier when traveling or eating at someone else's house. Holidays compound issues because they are excited and out of their regular schedule, and often have been getting sweet treats at school and activities which can make feeding them more difficult.

My picky eater usually eats a balanced and healthy, if limited, diet. Lots of fruit, whole grains, and protein in the form of yogurt, nuts, nut butters, and beans. When we travel, she eats granola bars, strawberries, goldfish crackers, and cereal. And that's about it. We offer other things, she's not interested.

So criticizing the mom who gets her kids fast food when they are visiting family, to ensure they get something to eat, is really uninformed. She is getting them something she knows they are guaranteed to eat, likely chicken nuggets or French fries or something. I could absolutely see doing that, even though I normally don't allow fast food.

Picky eater + travel + holidays + judgmental family members is no fun for anyone. Maybe help out by just accepting the situation, giving your sister the benefit of the doubt, and then not making a big deal about food while they are visiting. It's probably the best possible thing you can do to help your nieces become better eaters, actually. That's what all the pediatric nutritionists I've spoken to would say.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those girls are crappy eaters. Bad mom parenting skills. If they are hungry, they will eat healthy food.

Clearly you don't have picky kids. Mine would go days or weeks without eating even if we gave them what they liked.

We ate healthy/regular food when the babies were in the oven. Lots of food from different continents and made sure it was spicy. When they popped out, continued the veggie/fruit healthy baby food. When they were toddlers we served them everything; broccoli, asparagus, chile, sardines, hamburgers, thai chicken, pizza, sweet potatoes, salmon, omelets, lentil soup, blah blah blah. They still eat most everything. It takes a little effort to plan, but worth it for their health. They didn't have a choice to be picky eaters. Wasn't going to happen on my watch.

That's a lovely story. It's unrelated to the fact that you don't have picky kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those girls are crappy eaters. Bad mom parenting skills. If they are hungry, they will eat healthy food.

Clearly you don't have picky kids. Mine would go days or weeks without eating even if we gave them what they liked.

We ate healthy/regular food when the babies were in the oven. Lots of food from different continents and made sure it was spicy. When they popped out, continued the veggie/fruit healthy baby food. When they were toddlers we served them everything; broccoli, asparagus, chile, sardines, hamburgers, thai chicken, pizza, sweet potatoes, salmon, omelets, lentil soup, blah blah blah. They still eat most everything. It takes a little effort to plan, but worth it for their health. They didn't have a choice to be picky eaters. Wasn't going to happen on my watch.

+1000

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those girls are crappy eaters. Bad mom parenting skills. If they are hungry, they will eat healthy food.

Clearly you don't have picky kids. Mine would go days or weeks without eating even if we gave them what they liked.

We ate healthy/regular food when the babies were in the oven. Lots of food from different continents and made sure it was spicy. When they popped out, continued the veggie/fruit healthy baby food. When they were toddlers we served them everything; broccoli, asparagus, chile, sardines, hamburgers, thai chicken, pizza, sweet potatoes, salmon, omelets, lentil soup, blah blah blah. They still eat most everything. It takes a little effort to plan, but worth it for their health. They didn't have a choice to be picky eaters. Wasn't going to happen on my watch.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of the comments are helpful nor would a picky eater eat some of the suggested things. Ask mom what brands/kinds the kids like and get that. Do a white bread/PB platter, with some nuggets and if they will eat any fruits or veggies get those. Really, not a big deal.

Half of the people on the thread have said this. If our comments aren't helpful why are you repeating them?

Because op will make something the kids will not eat then get upset over it.

Anonymous wrote:None of the comments are helpful nor would a picky eater eat some of the suggested things. Ask mom what brands/kinds the kids like and get that. Do a white bread/PB platter, with some nuggets and if they will eat any fruits or veggies get those. Really, not a big deal.

Half of the people on the thread have said this. If our comments aren't helpful why are you repeating them?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Homemade chicken tenders - I use fresh chicken tenderloins, dip in egg, dip in italian bread crumbs and flatten a bit when pressing in crumbs, Sautee till crisp in olive oil. Or, use Shake n Bake (pork kind) instead and bake them on cookie tray

Another hit - cheesy chicken pasta. Cook chicken breasts in crock pot plain till they easily shred. Cook spaghetti. For sauce, it's 1 1/2 or 2 cans of Campbell's Cream of Chicken & Mushroom Soup (that's title of can). Can substitute cream of chicken. Add 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese. Mix pasta in that, add enough chicken broth to have nice consistency. Add shredded chicken.

Hilarious that you think picky eaters would eat this.

Seriously. I am not a picky eater at all and I wouldn't eat that shit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Homemade chicken tenders - I use fresh chicken tenderloins, dip in egg, dip in italian bread crumbs and flatten a bit when pressing in crumbs, Sautee till crisp in olive oil. Or, use Shake n Bake (pork kind) instead and bake them on cookie tray

Another hit - cheesy chicken pasta. Cook chicken breasts in crock pot plain till they easily shred. Cook spaghetti. For sauce, it's 1 1/2 or 2 cans of Campbell's Cream of Chicken & Mushroom Soup (that's title of can). Can substitute cream of chicken. Add 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese. Mix pasta in that, add enough chicken broth to have nice consistency. Add shredded chicken.

Hilarious that you think picky eaters would eat this.

None of the comments are helpful nor would a picky eater eat some of the suggested things. Ask mom what brands/kinds the kids like and get that. Do a white bread/PB platter, with some nuggets and if they will eat any fruits or veggies get those. Really, not a big deal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pp here and Also I don’t have picky eaters, much the opposite but I know it is incredibly hard and part of it is genetic so everyone being so high and mighty about it should choose to be kinder. And just because the sister gets fast food on a holiday when she is coming to and from somewhere as a solution for a busy high stress day doesn’t mean she does that regularly. She’s trying to find a solution that doesn’t impact her extended family which is what people usually recommend people with picky eaters do. A day like that is not the day to pick your picky eating battles.

Part of it is genetic??? Are you kidding me?

That is only true if the parents are nut case picky eaters themselves, and pass on bad habits. It is not physiologically "genetic." Please.

Im just sharing the recent research. Picky eating can certainly be exacerbated by environmental conditions, like anything it’s usually a combination of nature and nurture. But research does really support that among many components, genetics is a piece. Here are some sources from people that actually study and have knowledge on this stuff. Again I don’t have anything to gain here, my kids eat just about anything. I’m just sharing the information.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7694604/

Here is one a little easier to digest:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-are-you-picky-eater-blame-genes-brains-and-breast-milk-180953456/

https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcpp.12647

Just like anything genes often matter to predispose us and then home matters in how that is expressed. It’s complicated and just blaming parents doesn’t help anything.

Honestly just cook some good stuff you and your sister like and have some white bread and JIF on hand for the kids and some cut of fruits and veggies

Anonymous wrote:Pp here and Also I don’t have picky eaters, much the opposite but I know it is incredibly hard and part of it is genetic so everyone being so high and mighty about it should choose to be kinder. And just because the sister gets fast food on a holiday when she is coming to and from somewhere as a solution for a busy high stress day doesn’t mean she does that regularly. She’s trying to find a solution that doesn’t impact her extended family which is what people usually recommend people with picky eaters do. A day like that is not the day to pick your picky eating battles.

Part of it is genetic??? Are you kidding me?

That is only true if the parents are nut case picky eaters themselves, and pass on bad habits. It is not physiologically "genetic." Please.

I cannot believe people cater to this nonsense.

Pp here and Also I don’t have picky eaters, much the opposite but I know it is incredibly hard and part of it is genetic so everyone being so high and mighty about it should choose to be kinder. And just because the sister gets fast food on a holiday when she is coming to and from somewhere as a solution for a busy high stress day doesn’t mean she does that regularly. She’s trying to find a solution that doesn’t impact her extended family which is what people usually recommend people with picky eaters do. A day like that is not the day to pick your picky eating battles.

Anonymous wrote:

They eat fast food, plain white bread, chicken nuggets, and peanut butter, and goldfish. That is all.

But I’m not comfortable setting those items out because it’ll look strange. I will have a bowl of goldfish. My sister insists anything is fine but no one will eat anything anyway, but I need to have something…

I like the grazing idea.

Anonymous wrote:It’s my sister, her 2 kids, my parents, and us: 2 adults and 3 kids.
My go to a big pot of soup and bread and salad, but that leaves nothing for her girls.
Chicken nuggets might not work, because I’m not sure what brand they will eat and I do not want to ask.
Snacks seem like a good idea…or a roast chicken???

SO, may your go to big pot of soup and break and salad. Put the bread you want to serve in a basket and put some slices of plain white bread in the basket, so that it's mixed bread. Put some peanut butter in a small bowl or condiment dish on the side, so they can help themselves. Or just put the peanut butter container on the table with a knife.

When you have time, stop and get a 10-piece chicken nuggets from Chick-Fil-A and store in the fridge. Put them in the toaster oven or oven for about 10 minutes on 375 to reheat. Put them in a small serving dish on the side.

There you go. You are serving your go to meal and you've put various things that the kids will eat mixed in with the rest of the food. You aren't featuring the foods that they will eat so you aren't going to look like a bad host for the other guests, but you'll look like a good host for everyone, accommodating everyone nicely.

+1 I’m the pp from above but this pps is a great plan!!