michael's mom
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2007
Taste buds wired? If you allow your kid eat only certain things how will they become adventurous eaters? I guess this is my other issue. Parents have let their kids become "picky" eaters. I know that if I didn't at least try dinner I was stuck with PBJ. So I became more open to eating things as a child. So now parents who have kids who like trying different foods are put in a situation where they are buying a full meal and will more than likely waste it because the portion is so big. Thus adding trash and playing a part in a wasteful cycle but I digress.
I'm not attacking you but my question is, if there were no other choices if he had to eat a REAL meal what would he do? How would you as a parent react would you encourage him to try a new item or would you search out the food item HE wants to eat?
I had girlfriend who for the longest time only ate chain food- food. We went to the Key's and she refused to eat at any of the local places because they weren't a Friday's or Olive Garden. Mid trip we left her at the hotel because we wanted to go to local places. She ate one meal alone, guess what next day she went out with us. Now granted we were 22 at the time but still! Her parents had allowed her to do this on all family vacations to the point that as an adult she was very boring when it came to dining.
I can see that you have an infant at home who I assume is still either nursing or having bottles with solid foods being introduced. I certainly hope she is an adventurous eater so you won't know the struggles that us parents of picky eaters have.
I know the question wasn't directed at me, but I can tell you, as a parent of a very picky eater, it certainly isn't something "I allowed" and I hope you are aware that many parents try and try and keep trying to introduce new foods to their children, and that we're not all lazy about what we feed our kids. It took over 3 years for my son to put a piece of real meat into his mouth. And then, it was only chicken. It was another 6 months before he'd put a piece of beef or pork into his mouth. He still will not eat a vegetable. But, we give them to him anyway. They are always on his plate and we encourage him to eat them. But I will not force it down his throat either. We've spoken to his pediatrician about this concern many times and he has advised us to continue to introduce it to him but not force it. Between dr's appointments and conferences at school, we know DS has a slight sensory issue and certain textures bother him. Most of his sensory issues are oral (he hates having his teeth brushed, wouldn't eat food that had to really be chewed for a long time, etc.) Heck, he wouldn't touch play-doh until he saw how much the other kids liked it. So it really isn't a choice of ours that his meals are so limited and repetitive and there are a lot of parents with years of parenting experience that work hard everyday to feed their picky eaters as best as they possibly can. Nobody wants their kids to be overweight and unhealthy.
My son goes to school with fruit and a cheese stick most days for snack. I can tell you that he probably had a cookie in his lunchbox 1 or 2 days this whole year (he's in PK so no lunch). I have weight issues myself and it has been very important to my husband and me that my son eats healthily...but, his diet is very boring. Made up of mostly dairy. Yogurt for breakfast everyday, usually some sliced chicken and cheese for lunch (or a grilled cheese), and whatever we have for dinner (and now, he usually only eats the meat).
So we do our best to find healthy options that DS will eat and try to stay away from the junk food. But he's still picky and his menus are still boring and repetitive.
DH and I have opted against the DDP because we know DS won't even eat the traditional kids meals. We are driving and will be bringing food with us that we know will keep DS satisfied and regular
I can understand the frustration that those parents whose children are adventurous eaters have (and if you only have a 7 month old, you most likely don't really know what kind of eater your child is yet until real textures are introduced). I also agree that there should be a healthy choice on every CS menu everywhere for both adults and children. But, I think that the preaching style of many in this discussion to "us lazy parents of the so-called picky eaters" is inappropriate because for all you know, we're working harder to find healthy options for our kids than the parents whose kids will eat anything.