How can dh & I eat at Ohana with such a picky dd?

[pjynx]

Our kids have very severe allergies to eggs, nuts and seafoof and we were nervous about Ohana...however..it was one of our favorites for the kids. They brought us white rice, steamed and unseasoned broccoli and plain chicken. They were wonderful.

This sounds perfect! All stuff she will eat. Thank you! Did you contact them ahead of time to get this option or just let them know when you arrived?

 

[Mrsjvb]

It's just not worth it. Have you ever dealt with a child who gets so worked up over anxiety issues that she spends the better part of a day in tears with stomach problems and sitting on the toilet because she feels so rotten?

yes.. ME daily over the last 36 months due to the military sending my husband 7000 miles away and me not being allowed to go with him. I have major mental ( and physical) health issues and yes my stomach rebels on a regular basis


she needs to find another coping mechanism.. using food is a sure fire way to end up with lifetime health issues.. obesity, anorexia, bulimia. and a whole host of other nutritionally deficient illnesses.

 

[pjynx]

she needs to find another coping mechanism.. using food is a sure fire way to end up with lifetime health issues.. obesity, anorexia, bulimia. and a whole host of other nutritionally deficient illnesses.

Which is why I refuse to make a huge deal over food issues. I will not create a battle over it for fear that it will create bigger problems such as obesity, anorexia, bulemia, etc. To me, those are worse things than liking very plain, non-spiced, non-sauced foods.

To each his own I guess.
Again, thank you to everyone who gave me useful information that answered my OP.

 

[cbg1027]

I'm not trying to be one those posters who tells you how to parent, but I did have a suggestion...don't want it to come across as telling you how to parent though.

Since 'Ohana is family style and you are served many foods, why don't you try getting all the regular foods and seeing if your daughter would try those? Give her the choice of all the stuff on the table, but not tell her she has to eat any particular item? See if she tries any of those foods?

If by the time the meats come around and she hasn't tasted anything, then you could order her something special if she hasn't eaten anything yet.

That way she isn't being forced in to anything - she is presented with a selection and can try what she wants from it.

 

[pjynx]

I'm not trying to be one those posters who tells you how to parent, but I did have a suggestion...don't want it to come across as telling you how to parent though.

Since 'Ohana is family style and you are served many foods, why don't you try getting all the regular foods and seeing if your daughter would try those? Give her the choice of all the stuff on the table, but not tell her she has to eat any particular item? See if she tries any of those foods?

If by the time the meats come around and she hasn't tasted anything, then you could order her something special if she hasn't eaten anything yet.

That way she isn't being forced in to anything - she is presented with a selection and can try what she wants from it.

I plan to ask about getting special foods right when we check in (or at least when we get seated). That way they will have time to prepare it and she can eat at the same time as us rather than us eating while she waits for specially prepared food. That will also give her the comfort of knowing that we're not going to try to make her eat the standard food and only order hers as a last resort. Less pressure. She is very likely to try a bite of one or two things if we don't make a big deal if it (ie: it needs to be HER idea, not someone encouraging her to do it).

Thanks for understanding where I'm coming from

 

[brymolmom]

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Not what I was hoping to hear, but hey, at least I was trying to find a way around it. Not going to make her try just a bite of this & that. She is incredibly stubborn and honestly, her refusal just leads to her & dh being mad at each other the rest of the day. Not going to ruin my vacation over something that we haven't enforced at home and suddenly try it while on vacation. Food wars are just not worth it.

Glad to know the answer ahead of time though!

Probably your best bet, especially if it might lead to arguments....I have a picky dd and I try to set it up like I would at home - we wouldn't go to a Thai restaurant here because she won't eat Thai and I can't imagine going in and asking the server to bend over backwards to produce something she would eat. Why would we have gone in there knowing what's on the menu if we wanted something else - why wouldn't we have just gone to the place down the street that has it? I consider it our own issue and don't want to inconvenience anyone else with it.

That said, we never/rarely allow her pickiness to stop us from trying a COUPLE of places that we want to eat on each trip (not every single one, but she can deal with a couple). I prepare her before we go (she's 7) and tell her what the options are and that if she doesn't want to eat, that's fine, but she'll have to eat something before we go in and wait patiently for us.

It's much easier to do buffets - lots for both of us to choose from and my dd usually decides to eat a bit of things rather than sit there hungry.

And in the case like yours - you should choose a nicer place that has an a la carte menu - that way you won't have to pay for her if she chooses not to eat.

Or, SINCE it's vacation - you could always bend the rules and allow her to eat 'dessert for dinner' or something like that! At least she'll get something in her belly and once in a while on vacation it doesn't hurt.

 

[LlamaMamaof2]

I took my picky kids here and they basically ate nothing. They did like the place, but not the food! We came, we saw, we won't go back!! My kids are picky too and I am ok with that. Good luck!

 

[brymolmom]

Our kids have very severe allergies to eggs, nuts and seafoof and we were nervous about Ohana...however..it was one of our favorites for the kids. They brought us white rice, steamed and unseasoned broccoli and plain chicken. They were wonderful.

Also...my nephew is a very picky eater and most all of the restaurants we went to with them...the chefs were accomodating as best they could. Plain noodles was always a big hit!

Sorry, but IMO having a child with an allergy and having a picky child are two different things and I could never imagine asking a server/restaurant to go to that extent just to cater to my picky daughter.

THis child (and my picky dd as well) won't eat what's there....your child CAN'T eat what's there...that is a HUGE difference. What if everyone who entered the restaurant started asking for special requests...I want a burger, ds wants a piece of pizza, dd wants a taco...dh wants....You can see where this is going. I totally agree with a restaurant making exceptions for medical conditions but I don't agree with a parent asking for exceptions for non-medical conditions.

 

[wish*i*was*in*the*vi]

concur wholeheartedly.

no such thing as a picky eater when I was growing up. you ate what was available/served to you. period. none of this caving to a stubborn child's orneriness. she doesn't wanna eat, fine. she can starve and then pay for whatever she likes out of her own money later since Mum and dad already paid for Ohana.

Same here, and while I have been guilty myself of allowing my children to have alternative things to eat, those days are long gone. Theres not one single day when I was growing up that if I didn't like what was for dinner there was an alternate choice. You ate it or....you didn't.

 

[TDC Nala]

Please stick to the topic about ordering alternatives at 'Ohana, as this isn't a board about parenting issues.