[twitter]I don’t know when it happened. I don’t know when or how my kids became picky eaters, but one day it just happened. It doesn’t make sense to me since I made all the baby food for my boys from scratch.
I made bolognese, squash, chicken parmesan, all of it with a variety of textures, spices, and tastes. I thought I was helping my kids go down a smorgasbord dietary lifestyle where they would be a fan of anything and everything.
Then there was the day when I tried to give Zacharie lasagna.
I don’t know how it happened. He liked sauce. He liked noodles. He liked cheese. However all at once and touching? Mayhem.
So the path of least resistance gets taken and the next thing you know – picky eater. And let’s be real, that’s why we do it. It’s easier to give our kids plain noodles, cheese pizza, and chicken fingers than it is to struggle with them to eat something more interesting.
Celebrity chef Curtis Stone is making headlines this week for calling parents out on the practice.
“Your kid is going to embrace whatever you expose them to … People tell you ‘no, no my kid likes this or my kid likes that.’ My opinion is; that’s just not accurate.”
He’s right. If you let your kid take the easy way, they will take the easy way all day.
We went to our favorite new “grown up” restaurant last week where they are kind enough to do divide a fettucini dish into two bowls for our sons. There’s no kid menu here, so we get the chef to ad lib with butter noodles and a grilled chicken breast for the boys to split.
It’s not a family restaurant, so even a half order of butter noodles gets a knock of pepper and a dusting of parmesan before leaving the kitchen. Our boys wouldn’t bite. They were all for being grown-up at this place, they like coming, but … toss a sharp cheese on their plain pasta and they push the plate away.
So how do you get through the pickiness and back to variety? Same way you lose weight at the gym. You draw a line in the sand, you start by introducing small portions of new things, you watch cooking shows on tv together, you put a variety of food out at dinner and get them to choose, you get them involved in preparing meals and meal planning, and grocery shopping. TL;DR you have to make an effort.
Nothing will happen if you don’t try. Give in to the fingers and fries demand and that’s all that will happen. We’ve gotten the boys into a routine where they will eat what we eat at home (with less sauce or spice and as long as it’s not touching other food items), but we’re still working on the variety when we eat out.
We’re getting there, Curtis. We’re just putting in the work at home before trying it in public, for real.
Disclosure: I’m a brand ambassador for Life Made Delicious