Comments on Girl's Gone Child: Food for Naught.

Hold on. You say you feel like a better mom when w...

2009-07-01T06:26:37.308-07:00

Hold on.
You say you feel like a better mom when women you respect confess their own shortcomings in raising kids.
Wouldn't that make you both mediocre moms, and occasionally crappy moms?
Just wondering.
I suppose if you put mothering on a bell curve then the more less-than-wonderful moms there are, the better you look.
Is that it?

Cook with your kids. Getting them involved gives t...

2009-06-30T09:26:38.647-07:00

Cook with your kids. Getting them involved gives them ownership of what they are eating and that is powerful stuff. It can be simple and fairly mess free (although the mess is half the fun). Make English Muffin Pizzas topped with some spinach leaves or mini Hot Pockets by using store bought Pizza Dough and stuffing it with your choice of veggies, cheese, ground turkey (not for u-lol) etc... You can even stuff them with some apples and make a healthy dessert.

everything in moderation because my cousins were raised on only organic healthy food and as soo as they had free will, they went BUCK WILD!!!! They were served Molases and Milk and told is was chocolate milk- wow! Let's just say when they visited my house, Oreos were not safe in their company. SCARY!!!

I'm relatively certain it is part dumb luck. The...

2009-06-28T19:11:38.527-07:00

I'm relatively certain it is part dumb luck.

The other thing doesn't help you much, but we never gave her much of a choice on the veggie thing right from the start. We also tried a lot to find ones she liked and then built on that. Now her palate is pretty varied.

There isn't a vegetable I don't like (except squash) so it helps that we eat a lot ourselves.

Good luck.

My little ones eating habits definitely vary from ...

2009-06-27T14:19:44.429-07:00

My little ones eating habits definitely vary from time to time and when we are going through a rough phase he loves pasta or annies. I will puree butternut squash and freeze it in little baggies and when he has pasta I can then mix it in. He doesn't know the difference.

"Bland is Grand" LOL I am in big trouble. My d...

2009-06-27T14:18:34.219-07:00

"Bland is Grand" LOL

I am in big trouble. My daughter is only nine months old and must have cherios at every meal.

If it is any consolation, I was the worst of the worst eaters when I was a child. I wouldn't even eat pasta. My mom finally melted cheese on top, popped it in the oven, called it PIZZA IN A POT and voila, I loved it.

It does get better. I am now a super healthy eater and have been my whole adult life.

My daughter, just over 2, helped me make pesto the...

2009-06-26T12:06:55.231-07:00

My daughter, just over 2, helped me make pesto the other night. She was spooning it out of the food processor into her mouth and ate it for dinner that night (with much praise for both parents re: helping make dinner!). Leftovers the next night? No such luck. Guess the memory of helping wasn't fresh enough in her mind.

We resort to the dessert trick. We also do "two more BIG bites since you're such a BIG two year old." Some days are good, some days are bad. Our pediatrician has said that kids get their recommended allowances over one to two weeks - not all in one day. Hope that makes you feel a bit better!

I hope I'm not repeating stuff that's already been...

2009-06-25T13:25:26.182-07:00

I hope I'm not repeating stuff that's already been mentioned (I didn't give all 120 comments a close reading).

Feeding a vegetarian child has some real challenges. If you use eggs, then my advice is to cram as many vegetables as you can into a fritatta. Roasted red peppers are loaded with vitamins and not too weird to a kid's palette.

I let my son have two foods he's permitted to hate. He can change those at any time, but he's only allowed two off-limits foods at a time. Since he's stood by winter squash and cucumbers exclusively for over two years, I'm guessing it is a real dislike, and I can live with that. It also makes him feel like he has a say in the food decision.

Lentil-based curries are always popular at our house too.

Http://www.eattheblog.blogspot.com

No kids here - but a very picky niece and nephew w...

2009-06-25T06:53:13.081-07:00

No kids here - but a very picky niece and nephew who spend a lot of time with me....when they were very young (around Acher's age), I started to have them "help" me in the kitchen. They stirred or added ingredients or picked the veg/starch/meat for the meal. Low and behold - they started to gobble everything up! It also opened up some pretty interesting conversation: tired old foods/recipes got exciting new names, whether they made sense or not! Eventually, I was able to try new things and the kiddos LOVED the idea of writing their rating of the dish in my cookbook using the star system.

BABY LED WEANING ... I don't know if it's very com...

2009-06-25T04:31:54.387-07:00

BABY LED WEANING ... I don't know if it's very common in The States but it's gaining more popularity over here in New Zealand.
It basically means you wait until 6 months to introduce solids, bypass the whole mushed up pureed stage and just go straight to finger foods. The parents who have recommended it to me say the babies are much more receptive to trying new foods, have positive attitudes towards meal times and grow to be children without "picky" tendencies towards food.

My baby is almost 6 months old so I'll be offering up the first steamed carrot stick very soon and recording the whole adventure on my blog. Here's hoping it works and she avoids becoming the picky eater I was as a child!

I know this doesn't really help with Archer but just wondering if other parents reading this blog have tried this approach to introducing solids. As far as Archer goes I have heard it repeated many times that a new food sometimes needs to be offered up to 10 times before a child will accept it. Also that if a child refuses one type of food one day to not make an issue of it and offer it again 3 or 4 days later. I REFUSED to eat pumpkin as a kid and Mum eventually gave up. At 25 years old (25 people!) I forced myself to eat pumpkin at someone's house just to be polite and was SHOCKED to discover that I actually liked it!

I'm a sniper. I hide it where and when I can - mas...

2009-06-24T20:57:47.138-07:00

I'm a sniper. I hide it where and when I can - mash it up, puree it, cut it up so teeny tiny that if I dim the the lights low enough and waive shiny objects to distract her- she barely notices. Or I put like color veggies (corn, squash, peppers, carrots) in mac & cheese, or broccoli which luckily my daughter digs.

What's wrong with mac&cheese as a lifeline? I say hey, it's organic. Why not?

I'm with a few other people, edamame is a HIT at my house- warm, cold, in a shell or not. We also roast sweet potatoes, has the look of french fries and tastes like heaven. We also freeze grapes, no idea how why what - but she loves them (not hard as nails frozen) and freeze yoKids Squeezers. Yogurt in a tube. Who knew? It freaks me out but she loves it.

ps. You should get some stock in Annies- you'd do well based on some comments I read and our house!

I have one word for you, darling: Edamame. Lots an...

2009-06-24T20:07:39.450-07:00

I have one word for you, darling: Edamame. Lots and lots of edamame! The wheat grass in the smoothie is genius (expensive genius, but still!)

All my daughter requests is Mac and Cheese. Only a...

2009-06-24T20:04:42.023-07:00

All my daughter requests is Mac and Cheese. Only advice I have is, try to convince them to spice up there mac and cheese with some beans. I try to sneak in black beans, pinto beans or chicken all the time. She's not always up for the adventure, but it's worth a shot.

Honestly, you would rather your kid develop lung c...

2009-06-24T18:56:24.573-07:00

Honestly, you would rather your kid develop lung cancer than eat an *oh gosh, non-organic burger from McDonalds* burger and fries from mcdonalds every once and a while? What a hip mom you are.

I hear yeah.. Glad to know I'm not the only one, I...

2009-06-24T18:50:16.749-07:00

I hear yeah.. Glad to know I'm not the only one, I'm in pretty good company. I say with my 3 1/2 year old boy to not make a battle. Either you eat what' on your plate now or I'll see you at the next meal. No child will starve!!! This stage will pass and one day we will miss it:)

Brandy S

You should add a tablespoon of Peanut Butter to th...

2009-06-24T16:37:46.367-07:00

You should add a tablespoon of Peanut Butter to that square of chocolate to up the reward!!!

Smoking is blatantly worse than junk food. Junk fo...

2009-06-24T14:55:14.119-07:00

Smoking is blatantly worse than junk food. Junk food = phase. Smoking = potentially for life.

As for whow to get your kids to eat what you want them too, my mum used to bribe me with smarties!

Gotta say, cigarettes are way worse than a Big Mac...

2009-06-24T14:34:38.145-07:00

Gotta say, cigarettes are way worse than a Big Mac, especially if you start smoking as an adolescent. There was a program on KPCC this morning (Air Talk) and an addiction psychiatrist was talking about how nasty nicotine is and how the adolescent brain is a million times more prone to becoming nicotine-dependent in a way that makes it sooooo hard to quit later.

To be completely honest? I still eat like that and...

2009-06-24T14:17:42.320-07:00

To be completely honest? I still eat like that and I'm 21. I've always been a super picky eater. I'd probably pick the bowl of cheerios over the veggie covered omelette as well! lol! Mmm mac and cheese.

I think I may be lucky but my kids (now 10 and 12)...

2009-06-24T13:51:49.582-07:00

I think I may be lucky but my kids (now 10 and 12) have always been pretty good eaters, except for a short flirtation with pickiness between the ages of 2 and 5. However, I suspect some of my success was having really hungry kids (much to some of my friends horror) - my kids were not eating many snacks as I wanted them hungry when they came to the table for a meal. I don't think picky eaters are universal, I think it's a problem in the U.S. because there is so much food being offered so often. Kids are quick to see what little power they have, and if turning down foods lets them feel it, they will run with it.

Rebecca tu no fuistes la niñera del hijo de Beckam...

2009-06-24T11:44:58.643-07:00

Rebecca tu no fuistes la niñera del hijo de Beckamn o estoy confundido?

Saludos

*lucky one? Yeah... How did I do it? I think you...

2009-06-24T11:23:41.982-07:00

*lucky one? Yeah...
How did I do it? I think you hit the nail on the head when you called it *luck*! I didn't DO anything! In fact, I distinctly remember letting my teething 6 month old gnaw on a girl scout cookie to keep him quiet while I made a phone call. I've never been a food nazi, and my kids are certainly picky about some things, but they'll happily eat veggies, salads (and not just the croutons), fruits, nuts, brown rice, oatmeal, just about any chinese food dish that isn't spicy (and some that are), all sorts of tex-mex dishes, especially beans. I do let my kids eat fast food occasionally (not often, though because we can't afford it rather than because it's not healthy - that's Daddy's doing), and I'm pretty liberal with the treats (how else is a mom supposed to get 4 kids quiet at the same time?!), so maybe my kids don't feel like there's a food-power-struggle, or like there's a shortage of treats? My kids'll eat food even my hellapicky hubby won't eat, and I honestly don't know what that's about! I have one that loves veggies but won't eat fruit to save his life (well, an occasional apple or banana, but that's IT), and another who'll snarf down fruit like candy but won't eat a veggie to save HIS life (except for a loaded burger, or a salad), and my girls are ambivegitous.
But like I said, I don't know how I did it! I'm sure I haven't offered my kids any greater variety of healthful foods with any less frequency than YOU have, Rebecca! My toddlers also started out eating much more fantastic foods than they eat now (tofu? avocado? eggplant?), but they still eat pretty well. I don't know - I don't think much about it, I don't worry much about it, I just do my thing and they do theirs. They're more likely to ask me for veggies while I'm thinking "why can't you just eat macaroni and ramen and give me a break from the kitchen, just this once?!"

In our house, everyone has to have a try me bite o...

2009-06-24T10:30:06.431-07:00

In our house, everyone has to have a try me bite of everything that is on the table. (except beets. Yuck, yuck, yuck.) Every time. No exceptions. You can make faces, you can drink a gallon of water with it, whatever, but you have to eat a bite of it. I hate peas, but even I have to eat a bite of peas every time we have them. After that, I don't stress it. Eat whatever you want that is on the table. I also don't cater. I don't make anything different. Eventually, you'll get hungry and eat what is available. Of course, I still worry about what they eat, and how much, but I don't let them know that.

Hey Rebecca, I have an Annie's Mac N Cheese trick...

2009-06-24T09:43:10.392-07:00

Hey Rebecca, I have an Annie's Mac N Cheese trick! Here it is: NO MILK. Instead, a full cup of pureed carrots. Just butter, carrots and the powdered stuff. It's really creamy and the kids both love it. My other one is pureed cauliflower in mashed potatoes. Also, pureed any veggies in spaghetti sauce. Peas, etc. Full cup of that too :)

My parents never allowed processed food or corn sy...

2009-06-24T09:41:20.908-07:00

My parents never allowed processed food or corn syrup or brand name anything in the house, but never had time to make an alternate dessert. Result? I STILL don't like sweet things. Every now and then it's ok, but I can't stand soda or sugary cereals or anything from a mix.

Also, apparently I was a picky eater until the age of 18 months whereupon I downed an entire lobster that my parents had intended for their dinner. Ever since then, I'll try just about anything food-wise!

Hysterical post, love your advice. Mine little o...

2009-06-24T08:35:27.338-07:00

Hysterical post, love your advice. Mine little one is still on breast milk only, but I'm glad to hear I'm not the only mom hoping to rule out McDonalds for their kid. Especially glad to hear someone else knows what Quinoa is :)