My son (who is a week off three) is what I would have considered a very picky eater not that long ago. I always dished him up our dinner first, but if he didn’t eat enough to get him through the night – then his dinner would finish with a plate of plain porridge! This went on for months, but eventually he got bored and started eating more and more off his plate. He is a lot better now, although sometimes we still have to resort to the porridge again… However he is now, in our house, considered old enough to go to bed hungry if he decides not to eat dinner – both my children have tonight, after refusing to eat Chicken Fried Rice, a dish they have scoffed down in the past *sigh*! I just wanted to pop in and thank you for this series, Menu Planning is my nemesis; life is so much sweeter for it, yet I still struggle to organise myself enough to do it regularly!
Jessica Fisher
So glad to hear it’s been helpful. Hang in there, mama. Here’s to better eating tomorrow. 🙂
Jo Cormack
I know my philosophy might seem hard-line, but I advise parents to serve up whatever it is THEY want the family to be eating so that their children get continuous, repeated exposures to a really wide variety of textures and flavours. You acknowledge the value of challenging picky eaters’ palates, but I feel that to do so only on a weekly or monthly basis is nowhere near enough. Predominantly serving up food that you know will be acceptable to picky eaters will make the problem worse.
I am a huge fan of Rusell Hoban, but I would also advise steering well clear of the bread & jam! let children’s natural appetite direct their eating choices.
Jessica Fisher
I was being a little tongue-in-cheek about the bread and jam. 😉
I think the idea of guiding your family’s food culture is super important. Thanks for making that point.
Sandi
I wasn’t allowed to be picky growing up and thankfully neither the hubs nor the kid were picky. Hubs is gone now, and kid is a teen. When he was young, it was a ‘tough, eat it anyway’ type thing. Since he’s legally considered an adult now, I am more accommodating. Things he truly doesn’t like, I try to eat when he is not around. Things I know aren’t his favorites are often paired with something he super likes. He is very much a creature of habit, and would definitely eat the same couple of things every day of his life if I was ok with that. Happily for his nutritional balance, I am not at all ok with that much repetition. 🙂
cherie
I have to say, as a child [and a picky child at that] Bread and Jam for Frances was one of my favorite books. My youngest also loves it and put a finger on why we both adored it so – those elaborate lunches, with little baskets of cherries, a tiny shaker of salt, a small pot of this and a that and another thing! So elegant! So adorable!
We love it.
In fact, she has a laptop lunchbox we sometimes use for what we call ‘frances lunches’ . . . in fact she had a frances lunch today at home – a scoop of tuna salad, with a cute little poppy seed roll toasted and buttered, a small cup of banana yogurt with a pink spoon, a few carrots and a small arrangement of pepper strips . . .
Heaven
I do have to say though, I also never did the separate thing like frances got – frankly my son, 13, would still eat pasta for every meal every day happily and never tire of it – I guarantee. Pizza? ditto for all my kids. And I see oh so many parents who are still making chicken nuggets or mac n cheese at every meal for the one child who literally eats nothing else
Not how I wanted to parent – not judging them but no way LOL
Donn
Great post. My teens aren’t as picky as they used to be (thank God for that…) but when they were little I “deconstructed” a lot of meals and let them eat the parts that they favored with a deal that they at least try some of the other parts. This worked well. They got fed, I got what I wanted and their horizons were expanded a little bit. I was a picky eater as a child too (still am about some things) and the worst thing my parents would say to me was that I had to eat something. Really made me resistant to try things for quite awhile. Give choices within reason (like deconstruction of a meal…I don’t make special food just for one kid) and let them decide. Worked for us! Now I can’t keep enough food in the house for two teens! LOL
Elizabeth
Hi Jessica,
My son (who is a week off three) is what I would have considered a very picky eater not that long ago. I always dished him up our dinner first, but if he didn’t eat enough to get him through the night – then his dinner would finish with a plate of plain porridge! This went on for months, but eventually he got bored and started eating more and more off his plate. He is a lot better now, although sometimes we still have to resort to the porridge again… However he is now, in our house, considered old enough to go to bed hungry if he decides not to eat dinner – both my children have tonight, after refusing to eat Chicken Fried Rice, a dish they have scoffed down in the past *sigh*! I just wanted to pop in and thank you for this series, Menu Planning is my nemesis; life is so much sweeter for it, yet I still struggle to organise myself enough to do it regularly!
Jessica Fisher
So glad to hear it’s been helpful. Hang in there, mama. Here’s to better eating tomorrow. 🙂
Jo Cormack
I know my philosophy might seem hard-line, but I advise parents to serve up whatever it is THEY want the family to be eating so that their children get continuous, repeated exposures to a really wide variety of textures and flavours. You acknowledge the value of challenging picky eaters’ palates, but I feel that to do so only on a weekly or monthly basis is nowhere near enough. Predominantly serving up food that you know will be acceptable to picky eaters will make the problem worse.
I am a huge fan of Rusell Hoban, but I would also advise steering well clear of the bread & jam! let children’s natural appetite direct their eating choices.
Jessica Fisher
I was being a little tongue-in-cheek about the bread and jam. 😉
I think the idea of guiding your family’s food culture is super important. Thanks for making that point.
Sandi
I wasn’t allowed to be picky growing up and thankfully neither the hubs nor the kid were picky. Hubs is gone now, and kid is a teen. When he was young, it was a ‘tough, eat it anyway’ type thing. Since he’s legally considered an adult now, I am more accommodating. Things he truly doesn’t like, I try to eat when he is not around. Things I know aren’t his favorites are often paired with something he super likes. He is very much a creature of habit, and would definitely eat the same couple of things every day of his life if I was ok with that. Happily for his nutritional balance, I am not at all ok with that much repetition. 🙂
cherie
I have to say, as a child [and a picky child at that] Bread and Jam for Frances was one of my favorite books. My youngest also loves it and put a finger on why we both adored it so – those elaborate lunches, with little baskets of cherries, a tiny shaker of salt, a small pot of this and a that and another thing! So elegant! So adorable!
We love it.
In fact, she has a laptop lunchbox we sometimes use for what we call ‘frances lunches’ . . . in fact she had a frances lunch today at home – a scoop of tuna salad, with a cute little poppy seed roll toasted and buttered, a small cup of banana yogurt with a pink spoon, a few carrots and a small arrangement of pepper strips . . .
Heaven
I do have to say though, I also never did the separate thing like frances got – frankly my son, 13, would still eat pasta for every meal every day happily and never tire of it – I guarantee. Pizza? ditto for all my kids. And I see oh so many parents who are still making chicken nuggets or mac n cheese at every meal for the one child who literally eats nothing else
Not how I wanted to parent – not judging them but no way LOL
Donn
Great post. My teens aren’t as picky as they used to be (thank God for that…) but when they were little I “deconstructed” a lot of meals and let them eat the parts that they favored with a deal that they at least try some of the other parts. This worked well. They got fed, I got what I wanted and their horizons were expanded a little bit. I was a picky eater as a child too (still am about some things) and the worst thing my parents would say to me was that I had to eat something. Really made me resistant to try things for quite awhile. Give choices within reason (like deconstruction of a meal…I don’t make special food just for one kid) and let them decide. Worked for us! Now I can’t keep enough food in the house for two teens! LOL