it's all in what works for your family

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-18-2009
it's all in what works for your family
1353
Sat, 07-18-2009 - 6:38pm

I don't believe that children that have parents that work outside of the house are at a disadvantage... I also don't believe that children that have a parent that stays at home somehow benifit.

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Avatar for mom34101
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Mon, 08-31-2009 - 11:11pm

Textures, smells, sometimes you've had part of what's in it but not in a mixture with other foods. What difference does it make?

Avatar for mom34101
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Mon, 08-31-2009 - 11:42pm

We don't have a rule that requires her to eat anything she doesn't want to. The rule about dinner is that if she doesn't like what we serve for dinner, she can wait until the next meal or fix herself something healthy after dinner.

I've had the most success in getting her to try new things by getting her interested in gardening and cooking. She plants our backyard garden and in the last couple of years, has gotten interested in growing herbs that we can use in cooking. She has some interest in cooking, especially if she's using stuff from our garden. We get most of our produce and fruit from a CSA, so I've also taken her out to the farm to pick vegetables and fruits a number of times and to talk to the family that owns it about organic farming. She's pretty interested in environmental science, so the CSA ties in with that.

She's never going to be an adventurous eater, but the stuff she eats is healthy, so I don't worry about it. She doesn't like "kid food," and never has. I spend more money on groceries because she's picky (she can eat a whole bag of sugar snap peas or a container or blackberries in one sitting), but I can live with that.

Avatar for mom34101
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Mon, 08-31-2009 - 11:45pm

I really don't know what you're talking about. Where did I say I teach my kids to disregard house rules until they understand them? I don't.

The 2-bite rule (actually, it was the 1-bite rule when I tried it) worked just like it did in your house--I asked her to try 1 bite of new foods, but I didn't force it if she didn't.

Avatar for mom34101
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Mon, 08-31-2009 - 11:48pm
How is that different from what I said? I said that it wouldn't be a problem in PKA's house, but it was in mine. Honestly, I've said from the very first post that I understand that the rule works fine for most kids, just not mine.
Avatar for mom34101
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Mon, 08-31-2009 - 11:54pm

Oh, please, now this is just getting silly. OK, you said you had a "one bite" rule.

From post 687:

"Perhaps this discussion does not really work with the "one bite" rule, because it's not really a hard rule in my house. Not like some of the other ones. I ask them to eat one bite, they almost always do. If they don't, oh well."

Now, where did I say I don't ever expect my children to do what I tell them? I didn't.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2005
Mon, 08-31-2009 - 11:57pm
I'm essentially agreeing with you, but feel that the word "if" (as opposed to "when") better captures the spirit. "When" seems to imply that it will happen.









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Avatar for mom34101
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Tue, 09-01-2009 - 12:05am
Well, I'll tell you, I feel like I've said this so many times that I don't see why I have to keep repeating it. If, when, whatever.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2002
Tue, 09-01-2009 - 1:18am
Smell. There are certain foods I can barely stand to be in the same room with, let alone have them on my plate, because of the smell. If I remember correctly, smell is a very large part of the whole tasting process. One theory about why older people eat less than they should is that they are slowly losing their sense of smell, which makes food less appealing in general.
Avatar for rollmops2009
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Registered: 02-24-2009
Tue, 09-01-2009 - 2:24am

OK, this is NOT what I have dealt with usually, but some kids won't eat foods that are touching other foods or food that is not "pure." For example the kid might eat peas, but not peas and carrots mixed together. My brother would get hysterical if you tried to make him eat a piece of bread that had broken. Many kids will eat a meat ball, for example, but will completely freak if said meat ball is in a sauce and so on.

On the same logic as yours I did start out with the idea that the kid had to taste a bite of new foods. For a while it worked as long as she was reminded that she could spit it out if she did not like it. However, at some point quite early on, I realized that it was, in fact, not an enforceable rule and I dropped it. However, just because we dropped the rule does not mean that we dropped any and all attempts to get the kid to try new foods or eat a varied diet. You said yourself that your rule is not a hard one and that if your kids refuse to try a food, you do not make a big issue of it. If you think about it, that means my approach really never was very different, except that I gave up on calling it a "rule" and approaching it as such.

Over the years I have found that if meal time is pleasant for the most part and the kid is hungry, serving a variety of food in a matter-of-fact way will usually lead to the kid trying some new foods and eating a decent diet. I have always drawn the line at short-order cooking, so what is served is what is for dinner. A few times dd has gone to bed hungry and many times she has skipped one or more of the items on the menu, but all in all she has usually found something to eat from what I prepared.

Avatar for rollmops2009
iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2009
Tue, 09-01-2009 - 2:28am
Oh good point. I have never been able to eat marzipan for that reason. The smell makes me feel ill.

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