It seems everywhere I look lately, there are mommies complaining about picky eaters, how to hide veggies in their kids’ meals and desperately wishing their kids would be “better” eaters. And then I look around at my three little ones and vast variety of foods they’ve eaten this week and I think “How did I get so lucky to not have picky eaters?!?!?!”
But the reality is, I’m not just lucky. There are things I’ve done when feeding my little ones that have shaped them into being adventurous eaters. Is mac and cheese Sugarplum’s go-to when we eat out? Sure, but she’ll also try whatever hubby and I have.
So, here’s what we’ve done since Honeybun was tiny which I think has made a huge impact on what they eat now:
They eat what we eat. I don’t make special meals, they simply get served child-sized portions of whatever I prepare for hubby and myself. The only exception is extremely spicy food in which case I remove theirs before adding the spice or I make them an equivalent meal (I also do this often for Doodle when our meal has ingredients he can’t have).
If they don’t like what they’re given they get to be hungry. This probably sounds really mean, but I generally serve at least three things at every meal (a protein, a veg and a grain) and they are welcome to have 2nds of whatever they finish (except bread and pasta, they have to eat something else, too!) which almost always leaves them with at least ONE thing they like and are willing to eat.
The only warnings we ever give them is if something is hot or spicy. We never say “oh, you probably won’t like this” and we let them try anything they want.
I make a variety of foods. I don’t cook traditional “kid” meals. I cook Mexican, Italian, Indian, Thai, Chinese, Irish, Swedish, Japanese and anything else that sounds good and my kids try and generally eat all of it. Their favorites are sushi, crab legs and tikka masala.
We eat “real” food as often as possible. I like to have warm, balanced meals for dinner AND lunch. We’re more likely to have pancakes for dinner than sandwiches for lunch and I encourage my kids to mix it up at breakfast, avoiding daily cereal.
We eat out where hubby and I want to, not the traditional kid-friendly places. Our kids have been to plenty of fancy-pantsy places as well as many different genres of ethnic food and we always encourage them to try something special, not just go with the “kids” choices and they often order off the appetizer menu rather than the kids menu.
We may not have a fool-proof method for avoiding picky eaters, but by starting early, we’ve been pretty successful so far!
