How do you feed three kids who turn their noses up to EVERYTHING!!

[ceecee]

I used these words when serving dinner, upon hearing "EW!" or "I don't want that"


Me: "Oh well, I'm sorry to hear that. Breakfast is tomorrow morning at 7am".

Seriously, if they get hungry enough they'll eat. They won't starve, and the more you cater to what they want the less they'll even consider trying other stuff. I wouldn't make them eat a lot of what is 'new' to them, but if they finally do try a spoon or two of a new food and still turn their nose up, be proud of them for trying and give them a bowl of cereal. Eventually, they'll tire of cereal as well and learn to like the 'new' stuff.

Basically the same here. This is not Bob Evans, we eat what I made or you get hungery. My daughter is now 12 and will try everything and she will also eat just about anything. I hate it when her friend eats with us because she is SO picky!

 

[Mkaz]

Wow! I just went through this this weekend with one of my son's friends. The kid barely ate a thing.

He refused breakfast because we didn't have sugary cereals. He ate a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. Then he asked for a snack and ate Cheese Nips. I made homemade corn chowder for dinner, and dd made homemade biscuits. He took about 3 bites and turned his nose up at it. Dh offered him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He then requested peanut butter and fluff. We didn't have any Fluff, so he just ate a peanut butter sandwich.

I must admit, I was a little "fluffed" at this time, but didn't let it show. I said in a cheery voice, "So young man, just what do you like to eat for dinner?" He replied with, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and pork. I said, "No vegetables?" He said the only vegetable he likes is cucumbers.

I would be a liar if I said my kids were happy with whatever I made, but I draw the line at catering. For instance, our son does not like sauce. When I make spaghetti, I leave the sauce off to the side.

We are pretty much a meat and potatoes type family. I usually make some type of meat, a vegetable, and a side dish (rice, potatoes, etc.). I usually scoop about a tablespoon of vegetables on to their plates, if it is one they don't care for. Most of the time they mix it in with their potatoes or other side dish.

You could try making casseroles with their favorite foods. It's another way of "hiding" vegetables. Good luck!

 

[Nie0214]

For your child's sake, please force them to eat variety now.

My parents never catered to my brother and I, per se.. but they didn't make us try new things. It was a very meat & potatoes type of family. I am not a big meat eater at all, so I'd usually only eat the non-meat part of the meals.

Now that I'm 22, I wish my parents ate different foods so they'd have made me eat them. It's really hard to try new things now because I ate almost the same thing every day growing up.

Example: My parents both hated fish, and I've never really ate it (other than fishsticks like once) because of that. I won't try it because I'm scared to, the smell is kind of icky, etc. but I'd really like to at least try it. Fish is so healthy for you, maybe one day I can bring myself to eat a plate of it.

 

[AMYCC1]

OK!!! I'm FEELING IT NOW!!! The courage and strength to say NO to whiny kids who want different meal! From now on, what I make is what I make. I am so tired of having the same darn thing day in and day out.
THanks all!

 

[Inigo]

I'm a mean and devious mom. When my kids were little, I'd fix new foods, but tell the kids they couldn't have it because I didn't think they were grown up enough for whatever it was. Some foods are just not for little (emphasis on the little) kids, but maybe when they were older they could try the foods that were for grown-ups. I'd usually do this while cooking dinner. I'd "ummm, yummy" and "oh my this is good". The kids would ask what I was making, and I'd tell them they couldn't have it because they weren't ready for these kinds of food.

Well, let me tell you, my kids practically begged to taste whatever it was that I made. After tasting, they usually wanted that for dinner, since it was for grown-ups, and they weren't little! I only had to do this a few times, before they decided that they liked most new foods. And usually, once my oldest ate whatever it was, his little sister would want it to since she idolized him.

My kids eat just about anything. I'm the pickiest eater in my house. I even cook foods I don't particularly care for, since I know they like those foods. There are times that I don't eat what I cook, since some foods don't agree with my crohn's disease.

 

[jeepgirl30]

I'm in the middle. I do often make the kids something different than we are eating but I do have a "3 bites" rule. If they don't like it after that then they can have something else.

I grew up with a mom that could NOT cook. She was horrible yet really tried. I remember having many fights at the table where she would make me sit for HOURS. I was strong willed and so was she. One night my dad came home after working 2nd shift at like 11pm, saw me at the table with a cold bowl of her "soup". He took one look and tossed it telling me to go to bed! My dad very rarely argued with my mom especially with discipline. He NEVER raised his voice. But this night he looked at her and said "please don't force her to eat something at looks and smells like that again".

Mom made 3 main meals. Waffles and ham, soup and shoe leather meat. I always thought I hated meat until I tried filet when now DH took me out to dinner!

I starting cooking in highschool and made most my family meals. You would think I'd be a picky eater but I'm completely the opposite! I'll try just about anything. I love going out to eat, trying a new dish then coming home and make it myself.

My DD8 loves salmon but hates chicken. So on the nights we have chicken I give her a few bites but have something else for her as well. DS5 loves chicken and hates about everything else! Well he says he hates it until the 2nd bite then its his new favorite. So for him i give him small portions of a lot of things.

I absolutely love to cook so for me I do not mind having options. I do work full time outside the house so there are nights options are limited and we all just have to deal with it.

 

[Goofy'slady]

I find myself in the same boat with my girls sometimes. My youngest(3) is the least pickier eater with my oldest(10) being the worst of the two. Up until about 2yrs ago I use to make a different meal for my oldest than what the rest of the family was eating. When our youngest got to an age where she was begining to eat more of what we were eating for dinner than that practice became almost done away with-meaning our oldest was eating what I cooked for dinner.

Now most nights I make one meal for everybody and if someone turns up there nose then I say with a smile "I'm sorry you don't like it, I sure hope you like what's on the menu for breakfast in the morning". I would like to see my girls eat more veggies and for the most part they've been doing a much better job. I can get them to eat salad, steamed brocoli, corn-both on and off the cobb. Other veggies I hide in things like homemade soups, chili and I make a mean spinach quiche.

Things have gotten better but not 100% yet. I have found that if you let the kids pick what's going to be made for dinner and help prepare it that they'll be more excited about trying it because they feel like the had an actual hand in making it. My girls were given a Disney Kids Cookbook and so far we've only tried 2 recipes out of the cookbook(we just got it about 2weeks ago) but they loved each one. I've gone thru the book myself and I must say everything in that book is healthy, kid friendly and easy to prepare. We're excited about trying more recipes.

Good luck.
T.

 

[java]

Dh and I are actually arguing about this right now. Every night when he sees what's for dinner he asks "what are the kids having?" And I reply "This" and he says"They are not going to eat that" Is that helping!!??! NO!

And it's not like I am making liver and onions- I usually stick to something that I think they should be able to eat- plain and simple.

I have 4 children- the youngest and one of the middles are great eaters- will eat whatever I make- but the other 2 ugh! If it isn't a cheeseburger my oldest doesn't want it. But he eventually will try something if nothing else is available. My other one does the "I'm not eating then" Well great but you have to sit at the table with all of us anyway.

It's hard to get dh to understand that he is undermining my efforts. But I am sick of being a short order cook. I am making one meal and that's it. There will be yogurt available after you TRY IT. And I once read it takes 3 times for a child to decide he likes something.

Good luck everyone.

 

[devalsam]

For your child's sake, please force them to eat variety now.

My parents never catered to my brother and I, per se.. but they didn't make us try new things. It was a very meat & potatoes type of family. I am not a big meat eater at all, so I'd usually only eat the non-meat part of the meals.

Now that I'm 22, I wish my parents ate different foods so they'd have made me eat them. It's really hard to try new things now because I ate almost the same thing every day growing up.

Example: My parents both hated fish, and I've never really ate it (other than fishsticks like once) because of that. I won't try it because I'm scared to, the smell is kind of icky, etc. but I'd really like to at least try it. Fish is so healthy for you, maybe one day I can bring myself to eat a plate of it.

I have the same problem! I try to make myself taste things but it is so hard! That's why I go out of my way to have my girls taste a variety of foods.

 

[crisi]

We make our kids try things - but because low blood sugar turns my daughter into a demon - making EVERYONE miserable - we don't let her go hungry (and by extension, my son). We have the peanut butter sandwich rule - once you have tried everything you can make yourself a peanut butter & jelly sandwich - only a pb&j sandwich, no cereal, no leftover pizza, no raiding the fridge for string cheese - and you make it (from about the age of four on) and clean it up.

 

[Kae]

OMG..my three kids won't eat anything I make these days. They're 6, 3 and 3. Unless it's macs and cheese, chicken nuggets or pizza. Everytime I introduce something new, I have to hear the chorus of ewwwww or yuck, which drives me absolutely insane!!

If those are your kids 3 favorites try working off of those I make a pizza cassarole that is good pasta pizza sauce peparoni, mushrooms, ham pizza toppings the kids eat top with cheese then maybe you can start adding things like lasanga. And for nuggets I take chicken breasts, tenders or thighs & bread I use shake & bake yup thats one of my quick meals the kids love Italian shake &bake serve with buttered noodles & green beans or sometime I bread them with Parm cheese & bread crumbs kinda like Chicken Parm serve with pasta. www.kraftfoods.com have some recipes with mac & cheese were you add meat & veggies. Goto the dinner tab then click on 1 bag 5 dinners.

There are a few thing the kids don't care for like fish so when we have fish on the grill then get pork or chicken but the side dishes stay the same.

Kae

 

[Mommyto1andtwins]

My kids can be picky too. They end up with cereal if they really won't eat what I made.

I find that if I give them a different way of eating things they will try "strange" foods. Like using chop sticks or their disney plates makes the dinner a little more special so they won't turn their nose up so quickly.

 

[MoniqueU]

My husband is gone most nights or not home when I feed the kids. The only meals my kids can agree on is take out mexican food and take out pizza. Not practical. One got turned into a vegetarian lately by a friend further limiting things. Add to that I am not a cook. We are all set in our ways and don't care to try new recipes for the most part. For most of my kids lives I just made 3 seperate easy to make things for them to eat. Now that the oldest is almost 15 and a half and the middle one is almost 12 I am down to having to make about 2 meals a night since they can make the same dishes for themselves now. The youngest is 10 and a half but she is on the youngish side for her age so I always get her meal for her.

I was forced to eat stuff I didn't like as a kid and it really left a bad impression on me. I still don't like the things I was forced to eat as a kid today so I am not sure what the point of that was? A total control issue on my parents part. I vowed not to play the food game with my kids and so I just make them what they want. Not a huge problem all are very active and growing well and none are overweight. It works for us.

 

[Marla Hellwig]

Funny story

My mil cooked like 5 meals every night since everyone in her house didn't like something

First night I cooked for the husband, he turned up his nose - I said fine - if you don't like it - you can cook dinner - he ate what ever I cooked

With my daughter - we started very early - she had to try something new once a month - just a bite - but she had to try it - that worked out real well - and she eats just about everything - except for seafood - but that is due to allegries we both have to seafood

 

[Teresa Pitman]

My kids are grown now (and they're all great eaters) but one thing that worked for me was to think of meals in three "courses" - appetizer, main dish, dessert - but to make sure all three courses are nutritious and healthy for them. Then if they didn't want to eat one part of the meal they could eat more of the other two parts and I was still happy. So an appetizer might be something like raw veggies and dip, a salad with dark greens and some added veggies, carrot muffins, bruschetta, etc. Then the main meal would also include vegetables (say pasta with a veggie and tomato sauce) and dessert would be fresh fruit or cooked fruit plus whole grains (apple crisp, for example, or homemade banana oatmeal muffins). If all they wanted was dessert, that would still be more nutritious than (for example) chicken nuggets so I was happy.

Teresa

 

[Pigeon]

My girls are great eaters. Their friends' parents marvel at how nicely they eat, and are jealous. But these parents generally have fostered picky eating right along, and are now tired of dealing with the outcome.

I see it as my job to cook a nutritious, reasonably tasty dinner every night. It includes an entree, a starch and a salad and/or veggie and fruit.

It is their job to eat it or not eat it. If they opt for the latter, I'm not worried because they will usually eat enough of the starch, salad and fruit so that I know they aren't really going to bed hungry. There is no alternative meal, period.

I try not to cook things that I know they absolutely loathe, but other than liver, I can't think of what that might be. And I don't want liver, either, so it's not a problem.

 

[Bibbidi]

We try not to have battles over food issues in our house. I always have at least 2 things at dinner that everyone likes. Thankfully we only have one picky eater. My rule is you have to eat 1 piece of the thing you dislike and if you complain about the 1 piece then you have to eat a bunch more. That tactic has served us rather well. Since it supposedly takes up to 20 times of eating a certain food for some kids to develop a taste for it, I figured eventually my dd will eat chicken and like it!

 

[Chelley00]

I'm a horribly mean mom If they turn their noses up without even trying something, their plate does into the fridge. When they decide to come in 2 hours later starving because they didn't eat dinner, they get their dinner plate back in front of them. Usually they will at least try what's on their plate.

We have a "5 bite rule". If after 5 bites you can't stand it, you can skip it and grab something from the fruit bowl or veggie drawer, and depending on how big of dinner they are missing (like if they hate the main dish, but still eat the veggie), sometimes I'll allow them to get a sandwich or something else. Also, I'll make the kids something "kid friendly" if I know we're having something they won't like, like seafood since 2 of the 4 hate seafood.

 

[SherylWrites]

One piece of advice I didn't see (and if I missed it, I apologize!) is to let them do the cooking.
I realize your kids are 6, 3 and 3 but that doesn't mean they can't contribute to the family meal. Washing potatoes or other veggies, mixing, stirring, putting ingredients in the bowl all constitute "cooking" in my book. The more they contribute, the prouder they are with what's on the table, the more they will eat.
Sit down and ask what they'd like for dinner. If they say 'mac and cheese' you can say yes to that BUT we're also going to have chicken and carrots.
The 6 year old can wash and peel the carrots (with a veggie peeler), the 3 year olds can get out the pots and pans, add the spices to the chicken, etc. etc.
Give them some input on what the meals are, a little give and take goes a long long way. Yes, it's a little extra work on your part but it's a lot better than that chorus of "eeews" and "I don't like that".
My kitchen is not a restaurant. You eat what I prepare or what my husband prepares and that's it. You don't have to eat all of it, but you do have to try whatever is on your plate. Before bed, you can have a bowl of cereal.
Since asking my kids to help prepare the meals, things are much much easier. And they've been doing it since they were about 3 or so. They are 10 and 12 now and are pretty good cooks!

 

[tzolkin]

Having the kids help cook may make them more likely to try the food. My oldest has never really helped with cooking-- she would often even sneak away while we were making cookies! But my middle child has always loved to help cook and she is definitely eats more healthfully than the older DD.

Also, another person suggested cooking variations on the favorites the kids do have. I would also suggest trying to make them healthier by adding additional foods that the kids wouldn't try if they were separate. For example, I usually make my sauce with veggies minced into it. Also try some soups that you can blend completely smooth. My oldest (the picky one) absolutely loves homemade tomato soup. I will often put 10 different vegetables into it. She will make faces and gag at the table if we give her 3 green beans, but she acts like she's won the lottery if I've made soup. She tried the soup they serve at lunch, but thought it was disgusting because it didn't have the other veggies in it. I also put veggies in things like hamburgers.

To the poster who said her parents never made her try new things as a child... you sound like my SIL. We're still amazed at her "What's that? I've never had it before" comments at the table. This is a grown woman who would eat a can of corn for dinner. She does no cooking and my mom & grandma were catering to her by making pasta with butter or a plain chicken breast for her. She's getting a little better and at least trying a few things. One of the funniest ones was recently my mom made turkey. SIL said "Well, I guess I can try it". We all looked at her in shock and said "Seriously??? What the heck did your family have for Thanksgiving?"