I have one carnivore, three omnivores and one vegetarian in my household. Time will tell with the baby. Unfortunately, this makes for quite the ruckus around dinner time…when one child is raving about the meatballs and another is making dramatic “I’m going to be sick†faces and hoping mom doesn’t catch her and ban her from the table.
When you have a variety of taste buds around your dinner table…how do you make food that is going to work for everyone? How do you ensure that your kids are going to get the nutrition they need? Certainly, there are many solutions out there…but here are a few rules I go by that work fairly well:
1) Cook only one meal per night. I have heard of moms who go out of their way to have different food for each person at the table. This is an insane amount of work. Don’t do it! It is enough work cooking one decent meal. Take your time to make a balanced, healthy and tasty meal and expect it to be eaten.
2) Have options. If you know that one of your kids will be repulsed by the sight of fish, don’t force him to eat the fish. Let him eat the quinoa and salad. That will do just fine. Your other child might just want the fish and the cucumbers out of the salad. That works, too. Try to make the dinner with the whole family in mind. As long as every little picky eater can eat at least one item on the menu, they won’t be going to bed with a grumbly tummy.
3) Expect one, teeny, tiny, small bite. Every time my children ask to eat just one or two of a three-item meal, I ask them to simply take one tiny, little bit of the food they don’t want to eat. Now, if you have a child with a true aversion…I don’t think I’d do this. My children are mostly dramatic about what they want to eat, as their tastes fluctuate from day to day. The reason I ask them to take at least one very tiny bite, is that on some magical days they take that one tiny bite and say, “Mom, this is great!†And they eat it, to my great surprise. On most days, of course… they don’t do this. There is one more reason I like this approach. I read somewhere once that it takes eight tries of a new food to develop a taste for it. Amazing! So, if my child tries asparagus seven times as the “tiny bite†and on the eighth time begins to like it…I have officially won a battle. And, it is likely that my child will continue eating asparagus throughout her life. This explains how we all crave the foods we grew up with. There is power in repetition.
4) Apples & Carrots. If my kids absolutely don’t want to eat dinner, I never make them. Here is what I do. Without a decent dinner they are not eligible for dessert. In addition, they are not allowed to raid the kitchen cabinets for dinner alternatives. So as not to be too tortuous I do allow my kids to have “apples and carrots†if they don’t want to eat what I made. This means they can pick some fruit or raw veggies from the fridge and munch on that. So, now and then my kids eat “apples and carrots†for dinner. Not very often, though.
5) Encourage An Atmosphere Of Gratitude. In our home, my husband will often say, “Thanks, Mommy, for such a great dinner.†The kids will follow suite. If he worked on dinner, I will make sure to show my gratitude and remind the kids to thank Daddy. This does wonders. I find that one thankful heart can transform the atmosphere. And, it reminds the family of how hard one person worked so that everyone can eat.
6) Involve Everyone. One last tip. When my 5 year-old smears the olive oil on the chicken before roasting it; or my 6-year-old arranges the sweet potato fries on the platter before serving it; or my 9-year-old decides what to put in the salad and how to toss it…I find that there is simply a deeper enjoyment of the meal. Maybe it is ownership. Perhaps it is simply spending time with mom or dad while cooking. For whatever reason, involving your kids in the cooking process will bring more peace into your mealtimes and fill your lives with many precious memories.
Happy Cooking and Eating with those picky eaters of yours!
Images used under creative commons license – commercial use (11/16/2015) Heather Katsoulis (Flickr)
