I don’t have kids yet, but I let my 6-year-old niece pick out what new fruit or veggie she wants to try when we are at the grocery store. She doesn’t always like what we make, but she LOVES getting to choose the produce and what to do with it.

With my kids, I always say they need to have a small serving of everything good for them, and then if they don’t want to eat it, it’s no big deal, but no treats after dinner. Otherwise it’s easy for them to fill up on junk. We also try to have a sit down dinner every night together, and I think this is HUGE. If everyone just snacks, they never get exposed to new foods (and usually the snacks aren’t as good for them).

I think the key is making it look fun ;D

Lie to them!

That’s how my parents got me to eat sushi at age 3. Seriously. They had me eating the strangest stuff at a young age. My mom had tricked me into consuming tofu by calling it “protein”. For some strange reason, my four year old self excepted the explanation that the strange white blocks floating in my miso soup were called “protein”. Duh…lol.
My mom called chinese mushrooms “beans” because I had a thing about not eating anything labeled with the word “mushroom”. I could go on and on….my dad had me eat escargot at age 10 by promising me he would tell me what it was after I tried it. Well, I tried it and liked it. Now I will try practically any exotic food you throw at me!

My advice? Just start feeding them interesting foods at a young age, and lie to them once they can start questioning your choices. It worked for my parents! Lol.

Can I just say that a kid fits very well in your husband’s arms … wink, wink 🙂

The best food advice I ever got in regard to children is “It’s your job as a parent to buy and serve a variety of healthy foods every day. Beyond that it’s up to the kid”. When my 20 month old is going through a week where she wants nothing but crackers and cheese it helps to remind me that I can’t make her eat, all I can do is offer a ton of healthy food and if she gets hungry enough she’ll eat it.

That is so cute that the little boy eats mussels!!

I don’t want a picky eater either … I think the trick is to expose them to the foods early on in life, and always serve a variety of flavours when they are children. Don’t make special “kid” food like chicken fingers, etc.. everyone just eats the same food.

There is actually a book about this that I have been meaning to read … it is called “Hungry Monkey: A Food Loving Father’s Quest to Raise an Adventurous Eater.” It is by Matthew Amster-Burton.

Haha, Konner sounds like a man with taste!
I was a total fussy eater, I think my mum tried every trick in the book 🙁 sometimes I think you just have to let a kid be a fussy, and they’ll grow out of it. That’s what happene with me anyway :s

Malbec is delicious…I had a great one at a place called Malbec in LA in January. You look wonderful too lady!

I was a nanny for a while and got the kids eating my food cause they thought it looked good. Of course it took some time for them to really notice it or care to try but they eventually did. They were 3 and 5 and loved most fruit and veg.

I don’t think you can force healthy food you just have to offer it all the time and not have unhealthy options. But I think the best advice is grow a garden and get kids in the kitchen early!!!!!!!! Mine were doing something with food at 1-2. I have an edible garden theme so all are garden borders are filled with fruits and veggies instead of shrubs. We have strawberries and blueberry plants lining the driveway. I have big planters filled with edible flowers, cherry tomatoes, snap peas and much more. Raspberries, grapes, and sunflowers line the front of the house. I also made a blackberry bramble that is taking off. Kids spend the summer picking and eating. They get to learn where there food comes from and also be a part of it. Sometimes I think of them as little bears building up for winter because they eat so much better during summer and it is so much easier since it is built into there natural tendency to play and be expermental.

I think Momma Pea does a wonderful job because she only has healthy options and so if the kids are truly hungry they will eat and get used to the tastes they are presented with. She also bakes with them and slips in new flavors and healthy nutrients by giving them green smoothies in a non clear cup so they are not turned off by the color.

Be creative and make it fun is most important.

I have a 5 year old and a 4 year old I just tell them they have to try it if they don’t like it I understand but my 5 year old daughter is a stinker she is on a limited diet only carbs!

Ugh, kids and eating. I think some kids are just made to be picky eaters, despite their parent’s fervent attempts to avoid it. The good news is that MOST picky eaters grow out of it. That’s what I’m hoping for, anyway. Before my daughter turned 2, she ate just about anything…then things all began to change. I consider her a *reverse* picky eater, so I’m not terribly bothered by it. She LOVES fruits and veggies and generally does not like typical “kid food” with the exception of a few things. She would happily live on broccoli, cheese and pasta. I have her try new things, encourage her to give them a chance and let her try them a few times. Sometimes she’ll end up liking them, sometimes she won’t. I never wanted to make food a big struggle, so I don’t make her eat things she truly doesn’t like. To me, there are other areas of her life (behavior wise) where I’d prefer she be more compliant at this time. We’ve taken a very slow approach and I remain hopeful that her tastes will change and her palate will mature as she gets older. My fingers are seriously crossed.

Sorry you had a bad day. 🙁 Kudos for still blogging. Sometimes, I just can’t bring myself to blog after a doozy of a day.

Hope today is better!

I really can’t believe your friend’s son ate mussels! That’s so adult of him. I was a major picky eater. (And I kinda still am.) I wish there was an easy way to make kids snap out of it.

My son goes back and forth with his pickiness. I have found the less I get worked up about his picky phases, the quicker he snaps out of them. My general approach has been to offer him new foods regularly and to offer things even if he hasn’t eaten them in the past (what he refuses one day he gobbles up the next at times). Now that he is older I involve him in the whole process, he helps in the garden, makes smoothies with me in the morning, and cooks dinner with me at night. Last night he was cooking with me and just starting eating a piece of raw daikon, which he probably would have thrown on the ground if I offered it to him in another context.

Your husband looks like a natural holding Konner:)

I wish I had a magic answer for getting kids to eat. When my son started solids I made all of his food (it’s really not very hard) and felt so good that he was getting “the good stuff.” As he got older (he’s now 2), he’s gotten more and more picky. We are now down to only a few foods that he will consistently eat. It is extremely frustrating…I’ve tried making so many things I think he will like and, more often than not, they are refused without even tasting. He doesn’t even eat the classic kid foods like mac and cheese. But, we just keep offering him a variety of things to try and every now and then he’ll surprise us. We try not to make a huge issue of mealtimes. Otherwise, it becomes a huge power struggle and nothing gets eaten. I was extremely picky as a child and gradually expanded my palate so I’m assuming he’ll follow in my footsteps!

I work with kids (6 years old and up) and I find that the ones that are most willing to try new things are the kids that A) feel like they can help make it with mommy and daddy and B) When mom and dad make a big fuss over how yummy something is.

I’ve heard that a baby’s taste buds are affected even in the womb, and they can taste what you eat through the amniotic fluid, so it starts right away! I am 19 weeks pregnant and try to eat a wide variety of foods for this very reason. I will continue to do so when nursing because they can taste the flavors through the milk! I am really hoping for an adventurous eater.

I have two children (5 and 8) who are adventurous eaters. I agree that it is somewhat personality based though. Neither of my children are very particular in any area.

My 5 year old likes lettuce and artichoke hearts on her sandwiches. My oldest’s favorite meal is shrimp risotto. Both like shrimp and fish (baked, grilled, fried). They will eat most anything. We require one bite chewed and swallowed. We took them to a Korean restaurant and ordered a variety, and they loved most anything and have been requesting a return visit.

I used to work as a behavior modification thearapist with children diagnosed with autism. Sounds strange yes, but we really helped them get a grasp on necessary life skills, like tieing shoes, socalizing, and yes, eating! I had one kid who would only eat foods that were white!! I leanred the best trick in the book working there: rewarding positive behaviors. For example, if his favorite food was mashed potatoes we would give him heaping spoonfuls every time he took a bite of peas (ok, we usually started with one pea … maybe even a half a pea). Over time you begin to reduce the reward and increase the greens! It’s a slow process (and, granted, it works a lot faster on kids without learning disabilities), but it’s a method that can be used in almost any teaching enviornment and it works!

You got lucky with that kid; I don’t know any that would actually sit there and be civil in a fancy restaurant!

Malbec’s are by far my favorite, favorite type of red wine. It’s all I buy at the liquor store these days!

That restaurant is sooo gorgeous! I love the idea of dining under twinkling lights and trees 🙂

No kids here, either, but I think there is a distinction to be made between “picky” and “will only eat crap food”. If your children are only exposed to a wide variety of delicious healthy foods instead of packaged/processed stuff, even the few things picky eaters like will be healthy, no?

I love all the advice to require small tastes, not making a big deal if they don’t like it, then offering it many more times. Something to keep in mind for a few years from now!

I am also of the mindset that involving the kids in the process is helpful. I see my little cousins helping pick out food at the store/farm market, cooking, and all eating together as a family, and it seems to make a difference in how they approach food.

We set an example for our kids. Even if I don’t like something, I will try it again and again to show them to always keep an open mind and try new things! Also, introduce a food more than once, and make it fun! We have “muscle competitions” after we all eat our salads to see whose muscles grew the most! Treats are also very important, of course! 🙂

I’m not a mommy but I’ve noticed something about children that I’ve been thinking about because I have the same concerns. Babies eat plenty of fruits and vegetables usually, if they are eating baby food. Then somewhere along the way they stop and when you reintroduce the veggies and fruit in whole form they don’t like it. I wonder if it’s because a lot of parents don’t help them during that transitional stage by mashing up part of the veggies so it’s still somewhat familiar to them, but helping them to chew whole pieces as well. Just an observation and a hypothesis.