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Kids who don't like 90 percent of what you cook


pinkmint
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I read advice from a book when my kids were little and stuck with that. It said the parents job is to make healthy food and the kids decide what they want to eat of it. You do not bride or threaten. You try to incorporate one thing you know they like at least and do not worry if they eat the rest. I try to include one thing they will like as a side but that does not always work out perfect. I have not made special meals even a sandwich. There is a snack times before dinner though. Everybody is different though and it is fine to do things differently.

 

I understand some kids have extreme sensory issues and that in that case things are very different and you do what you need to do. If a kid literally only had a handful of things they ate I would like to get an OT assessment and maybe try feeding therapy. I know that also is not always a possibility though. I would love to get OT for other issues but it is not possible for us because of cost and insurance issues. If that what you got to do that is what you need to do.

Edited by MistyMountain
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We have dessert with almost every lunch and dinner. And sometimes after breakfast, too, if we have something really good in the house. :)

 

What constitutes dessert in your house? We don't have "official" dessert but there are always a couple of things of Talenti in the fridge. And usually some fruit bars, like Fruttara and Outshine. But cakes and brownies are an occasional thing. Oh, and there are always bowls of miniature Doves on the kitchen bar.

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lack of dessert is no threat here because we never have dessert

 

how common is dessert I wonder

 

We don't do dessert either.

 

Also, neither of my dc have ever done the dip in ranch, ketchup, etc. Dh and I honestly never thought to offer them those things since neither of us do. We haven't had ketchup in this house in probably over a decade because no one here eats it. Ds even eats his salads dry without dressing.

 

Like I said, both of mine eat veggies with no problem but ds is picky about meat and carbs. The meat part is what's difficult because I'm not going to make two separate proteins because he won't eat one. Later this week I will make one of dd's favorite meals involving chicken legs. Ds will not eat them at all. So, he will eat the veggies and I'll probably make a potato side he will eat. After dinner, he might make himself some eggs or heat up some frozen nuggets. No biggie to me. 

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Over the years I've fed as many as nine or ten at every meal and there is no way to perfectly please everyone. So I tell my kids, I get that there are some foods one absolutely cannot eat. I can't stand the smell of liver--shudder. Ripe bananas taste like rot to me. Same with mangoes. But for the most part, foods aren't completely repulsive. By the same token, food isn't meant to be entertainment either. It's nourishment. I go to a lot of trouble to prepare tasty, fresh, well cooked foods and it doesn't have to be your favorite food ever in order to eat it. It's okay not to love what's you're served, but if it doesn't actually make you gag, then do everyone a favor and choke it down. I have no problem with the right of refusal for foods a child finds intolerable, it's the "well, this isn't like super yummy and fun or what I'm in the mood to eat tonight" that I don't have any patience with. Can't tell you how many times I've heard, "I don't like this" and I respond, "is it repulsive or can you manage to choke it down?" And the child realizes she magically likes the food this time around. Eye roll, lol

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I don't feel like I have picky eaters and we have no allergies. 

 

You know what I hate is trying to find a meal that everyone likes.   So hard.  

 

Not that I am right or wrong, but I fix the meals I want to do and then the kids are welcome to fend for themselves 

 

I like to just put out a buffet of things. 

 

The main meal

And then I put out other things

 

A jar of pickles

Container of yogurt

nuts

Fixings for pb and j

Fresh fruit and veggies

hard boiled eggs

salad

any leftovers

 

If you don't like the main meal you can feel free to eat that stuff

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What constitutes dessert in your house? We don't have "official" dessert but there are always a couple of things of Talenti in the fridge. And usually some fruit bars, like Fruttara and Outshine. But cakes and brownies are an occasional thing. Oh, and there are always bowls of miniature Doves on the kitchen bar.

Cakes, cookies, brownies, pastries, pies, etc. There is always candy available, too, but we don't eat too much of that. :)

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I don't feel like I have picky eaters and we have no allergies. 

 

You know what I hate is trying to find a meal that everyone likes.   So hard.  

 

Not that I am right or wrong, but I fix the meals I want to do and then the kids are welcome to fend for themselves 

 

I like to just put out a buffet of things. 

 

The main meal

And then I put out other things

 

A jar of pickles

Container of yogurt

nuts

Fixings for pb and j

Fresh fruit and veggies

hard boiled eggs

salad

any leftovers

 

If you don't like the main meal you can feel free to eat that stuff

 

This is also how my grandmothers (and my mother in law) stretched meals when there wasn't quite enough.  I do the same thing. 

My own mom always stretched meals with Jello instant pudding.  You knew you were at the end of the month when the pudding came out in her crystal wedding china.  LOL.  My kids much prefer my mother's ways to my grandmother's, but they get pickles more often.  

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This is a bit sneaky, but could you bake a chicken and put it in a clean rotisserie chicken container from the store? :-) Unless it's cheaper to just buy the rotisserie....depending on the store, it might be. Last time I bought one a few years back (we stopped eating meat a few years ago), it was about the same price or less expensive than making homemade. 

 

 

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Yeah the closest thing to a vegetable that DD6 eats is tomato sauce. In terms of actual produce-raw, steamed, roasted, whatever, the ONLY produce she will touch is a banana. Nothing else. When she was 2, her OT opened a container with a single green bean in it and she ran and hid in the corner crying lol. I might try breading them up and frying them like chicken nuggets lol

Have you tried snap-pea crisps? They sell them at Costco even. They are peas that have the texture of potato chips. A slightly grassy flavor, but salted so they might work as a chaining food.

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My mom needs to read this post. She thinks my kids are picky![emoji23]

 

OP your kids are probably not here yet, but something I did around when mine were your kids age was tell them they could choose one thing on their plate they didn't have to eat. So if the stir fry had peppers, they didn't have to eat the peppers. If the side was cabbage, they didn't have to eat the cabbage. But that meant they had to eat everything else. That worked pretty well for my mildly picky crowd - gave them the bit of autonomy I believe they were seeking. Also TINY portions of the size where you're sure if they like it they will have to ask for more, and if it's not their favorite, the portion size is not a terrible hardship.

 

OP your situation is not entirely your fault. My kids were introduced to cheetos, Doritos, koolaid, artificial popcicles, and several other things outside their home. You can't lock them up. [emoji6]

 

ETA - I have one that regularly skips lunch because there's nothing available that he's interested in eating. That's okay, there's always dinner. He's not a snacker so I don't have to worry about him consuming snacks all afternoon because he's hungry. I do wish he'd eat more. He's really small for his age.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited by SamanthaCarter
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ETA: To take your example of honey mustard chicken and broccoli: he would not have touched that when he was younger. So I would have set aside one piece of chicken for him and grill or bake it plain, and make the honey mustard version for the rest of us.

He would refuse the broccoli. He would eat pasta or rice or bread, so i' d serve a side of either of these.

It requires minimally more work and goes a long way towards harmony at the dinner table.

 

 

 

 

That's what I do. I might make a veggie they do like, that is easy, like canned or steam in bag green beans or cut up an apple (they like apples) so there is a fruit or veggie. But yeah, that's what we do. 

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Kids don't like honey mustard? Mine would eat it it with a spoon if they could.

All but two of my kids hate it (who are old enough to eat it, anyway). Edited by Arctic Mama
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Kids don't like honey mustard? Mine would eat it it with a spoon if they could.

 

Mine don't like it either, though they'll eat it if it's on the plate (maybe).  Now, we have 15 different kinds of mustard in the fridge at the moment, ranging from yellow to brown to a German one and everything in between.  Those will get lapped up.  They just don't want it sweet.

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With ten people in the house, it is hard to please everyone.

 

Try this, can you make a list of what everyone agrees on. Make a list of what and why people don't like certain things. Is it too spicy, certain flavours, texture, etc? Start trying recipes that avoid those things, but include what they do like or something completely new (I once got someone's kid that despised spinach to LOVE spanikopita aka spinach pie).  

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No idea as we have the same problem here. 1 kid with genuine sensory issues since birth, one with serious blood sugar issues and one the normal type of picky who wont eat anything that basically isnt bread.

 

We cycle through the same three meals every week interspersed with pizza.

 

Been trying too many years ...cant change it...dont care anymore.

 

We are going on Scout camp this weekend...7yo tells me..make sure you bring food I like mum because I dont want their food. 🙄. Its hotdogs...which he eats at home but wont eat theirs because they arent the same brand and taste "weird"

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