It’s yet another case of nature versus nurture. Are we born picky eaters or do we create picky eaters?
I have always said, only half jokingly that children have no taste buds! I know our taste buds change as we grow and get older, my have certainly changed. I also know that all of us are more sensitive to some tastes or flavors than others. But when kids are very young it can be very difficult to get them to try new foods. They almost always hate everything, they refuse most things and sweet seems to be the only constant.
I put everything I ever ate or cooked in my kids mouth from the time they were very young. It’s easy to start when they are reaching for everything and curious about everything but haven’t yet reached the age of shouting NO to every little thing. You can develop their taste for lots of foods, yes, even healthy ones.
As they got older they had to take 2 bites of everything on their plate whether they liked that food or not. Sometimes this is very painful! But over time they have come to like a great variety of things and as they got older they learned that it wouldn’t kill them to try new things. So we were persistent and its worked very well.
I have some kids who have problems with certain foods, some who have problems with textures. I probably will never like asparagus, but I try it probably once a year cooked in different ways because I might learn to like it. We have become members of Bountiful Baskets. It’s a co-op that gives us 6 fruits and 6 vegetables once a week for $15. We don’t choose the produce we just order the basket on a Monday and pick it up at the drop off point on a Saturday morning. The best thing about this besides the great money value is that we have been able to try a much greater variety of things than we probably ever would have going to the grocery store. We all get stuck in a rut and look at new things and think, what would I do with that? But if it’s already in your kitchen……you jump on the internet or leaf through your cookbooks and you find something to do with it, and usually you are very pleasantly surprised!
Growing a garden with your kids has long been touted as a great way to get them to try new things or eat vegetables in general. It really does work! They get curious about what things taste like and they love to share with the family the great work they have accomplished.
Now on to a pet peeve of mine; I absolutely hate it and disagree with getting up from the table and making an entirely different meal for a fussy child!!! First of all, unless the child has allergies or some other genuine need, they should be eating whatever the rest of the family is eating. Catering is a business, short order cook is a job, your dinner table should be neither of those things. Do not get into the habit of spoiling a child to this extent. They will eat what you eat if you have set the precedent from the time they started eating. They can be retrained to eat what you eat if you are persistent. They will not starve if they refuse a meal, they will not die if they throw up something they are determined not to eat, they will not be scarred for life over food.
Fix good healthy meals with a variety of foods. Make meals fun, encourage them to help grow and prepare meals. Have a night where everyone has to try something different, experiment, encourage, don’t go to war. There are a hundred ways to make dinner an adventure, give it a try! And don’t cultivate picky eaters in your house.