Chicken Tenders

Don't have chicken tenders and pizza in the house. ;) You are the boss of him.

A HEALTHY alternative - try Shaklee's Mealshakes - comes in chocolate - no artificial ingredients - kids love them!

http://K..myshaklee.com Type mealshake in the top right search button.

HTH!

K.

No but I have a 5 year old who would really like to try getting me to feed her only spaghetti Os and chicken tenders.

You child is very young and at a good age to learn that the kids eat what the parents eat. Children will refuse to eat one or two meals and then get really hungry - once they are hungry enough they will eat what is served. Don't worry, I have never heard of a child starving themselves this way. As far a nutrition is concerned it is better to not eat one or two meals than eat only junk food.

Those battles are something, best of luck to you.

I know honesty is the best policy....but sometimes we call things chicken nuggets to get our oldest to eat it. It’s silly, but we’ll say, “we’re having chicken nuggets spaghetti,” or “chicken meatloaf,” or “chicken macaroni and cheese.” I’ve even pretended to sprinkle chicken on her plate and that gets her to eat it!

To start, let him help you make meals. When you are making meal, sit him in the high chair in the kitchen with you. On his tray give him a tablespoon of shredded cheese or shredded lettuce (available pre-shredded in the salad section.) If you don't mind them possibly being thrown, give him an unbreakable bowl and a toddler safe baby fork or spoon. Yes this is messy.

Let him feel the textures of the new foods. Encourage him to touch, taste and mix them with his hands, his spoon and bowl. He may actually try to eat the cheese or salad!

As time goes on give him a few Cheerios, Special K, teeny bite size pieces of tomato, cucumber, pickles and lunch meat etc....

I suggest you stop making him separate meals, feed him adult "people" food.

I have been where you are. For about 3 yrs all my son would eat would be chicken nuggets, french fries, and rice chex. So I became inventive and added things to the breading like flax seed, and wheat germ. And my son didn't notice. Also smoothies are a great way to "trick" them into eating healthy stuff. My son was stubborn and up until about 6months ago stuck to his diet. But now he eats what we eat for lunch and dinner. (I let him have whatever he wants "healthy" of course for breakfast. usually waffles or pancakes) So it gets better....just have faith. Having your son on a vitamin is good, but not the way nature intended to have of babies get what the need. So just keep offering and I am sure he with give in!

If you eat meals together as a family, you all should be eating the same thing, and not preparing separate "kid" meals for him. Kids learn by example. If the family eats veggies and healthy items, so will he.

Make a healthy meal for the whole family, even if it is just you and him. If he doesn't eat it, so what? He'll get hungry. You can feed him a modest healthy snack (like an apple and cheese or something). But stick to your guns, don't make separate meals. (I sure as hell don't want to be a waitress at home!)

Let those natural consequences (hunger) work for you. Just don't spoil his appetite with too much snacks, or beg, yell, cajole, or spend your energy trying to make him to eat what you want him to eat. He'll eat when he's hungry-- and then HE will make a PERSONAL discovery, "wow--other food tastes good, too!" (While you sit back and try not to say "I told you so--LOL")

You'll get over this!

Oh, I have so been there! I have a 12 year old that ate anything as a toddler and one morning woke up and his food repertoire consisted of chicken nuggets, peanut butter and jelly, mac-n-cheese from the blue box and anything that had sugar. I so struggled with this, was criticized how I handled it and proceded to make my son mad at me. Finally, I let it go but it wasn't easy for me. Now I am proud that we spent last Thanksgiving in New Orleans and the kid ate oysters on the half shell. He will try anything. Don't freak out and make food an issue. I have struggled with weight issues and I didn't want to make food an enemy for him.

It doesn't matter. If it's the nutrition you're worried about you have options. You can make your own chicken tenders. Not only do you know what's in them and on them, they're fresh so they taste better. Breast strips are usually the same $/lb. as regular breast pieces and you can find recipes everywhere. Rachel Ray has one I like using pretzels for the breading ~ very tasty, very QUICK and very EASY.
Just because he doesn't eat the veggies you put on his plate doesn't mean you shouldn't put them on his plate. Frozen veggies are just as good for you as fresh, sometimes better, so don't worry about having to splurge in the off season. Steaming is a good way (my favorite) to cook fresh veggies. Don't overdo it. Some people like their vegetables mushy. Unfortunately by the time they're mushy all the nutrients are in the water being poured down the drain. My daughter likes her broccoli and cauliflower with a little melted butter and garlic powder. My son would rather dunk his (raw or steamed!) in ranch dressing.
Does he like juice? Bolthouse Farms and Naked have 'smoothies' that are full of good stuff and the green juices with veggies and fruit tastes like the fruit.
Vitamins. If he just won't eat anything else, make sure he has a children's vitamin everyday.
Just take it in stride - by the time summer starts he might not want to eat anything but grilled cheese sandwiches!

I'm no expert as I, too have a somewhat picky eater, but here are things I've heard and tried and seem to work:
--Always put a variety of things on the plate (fruit, veggie, etc.) and at this age I would start encouraging "one bite of everything"
--Be a good example and eat a lot of variety
--Don't make special meals for the kid, you should all eat the same stuff
--The kid will eat when hungry -- if the chicken tenders aren't there, they'll eat something else
--We also use the "trick" method of hiding veggies in stuff -- in our lasagna, etc.
--Sometimes I make a game out of eating things, especially foods that can be finger-foods like peas (I know, probably not the greatest idea, but it gets him to eat veggies!)

Good luck!

i haqve a 6 y/o who only wants chicken nuggets

i try to make almost everything to look lie chicken nuggets like chicken and brocoli nuggets,red meat balls i made everything in the oven

My son was like this and the doc was not worried as long as he got protein and vitamins. My son would NOT eat pizza or anything else with tomoato sauce. He still swipes the sauce off pizza at 11 yrs old. He will eat pasta, no sauce until it is a white cheese sauce. He did like quesadillas so I would slip beans in there for an extra protein hit. I have never had trouble getting my kids to eat veggies (broccoli is "green trees") with a few exceptions. Sometimes calling the item something else, a cute name, works. Just keep offering different things. As he gets older, he will eventually expand his taste preferences.

My son loves chicken nuggets (23 months). He also likes fish sticks, but calls them chicken nuggets, as they are about the same size. We try a variety of other things that he picks and chooses from (usually not much, or won't try it). He doesn't like pastas or casserole type things that others his age like. If he doesn't eat the new food, he doesn't eat it, and we only give in to the chicken when we know he hasn't eaten much that day and we need to get something into his belly.

I will be reading for more ideas.

This book has helped me to introduce new foods to my kids. My daughter loves to look at the pictures and picks out recipes she'd like me to make.

http://www.deceptivelydelicious.com/site/

I’m not sure what you’ve tried but just introducing new foods everyday and constantly having them around might work. Make the food look fun. I would give my kids steam veggies mixed with sweet potato to get them acclimated to vegetables. The sweetness of the potato made them taste better but they would visually see the vegetable and their colors. Now they are older and will eat just about anything. It helped that I let them always get involved with the preparation of the food and cooking too. We had a blast cooking together!

If your son loves chicken nuggets so much I know there is a brand that adds omega 3’s/DHA. I’ve never bought them but my neighbor’s son will ONLY eat chicken nuggets as well and she figures she will get the ones with extra nutrition.

Your son is only 2 and I’m sure will outgrow this. It’s just that the nuggets are so good he can’t get enough of them! Just continue to try and introduce new foods everyday and let him get help you in the kitchen preparing his food. Plus if he sees you eating them and making yummy noises he may be more inclined to try it =-)

This is my son. Just keep offering other foods at every meal, with at least one he likes, encouraging him to at least try one of the new foods. Be patient and add a multi-vitamin to his diet until it improves. My son is just now starting to get better about his food, and he is now 4 1/2!! It takes a lot of time with the really picky ones, even now chicken is the only meat he will eat, but over time we have been able to add penut butter, cheese, and yogurt to his list of "go to" foods. Sometimes you have to offer the same food many many times before the child will decide he likes it. With my son it was not until the 7th or 8th time her tried macaroni with cheese that he finally decided he wanted to eat it. Just hang in there, it does get better with age.

My son would only eat hot dogs when he was that age. So, I started calling everything "hot dogs" -- chicken, ham, bologna, turkey. He ate it all as long as I said "eat your hot dogs honey." I know, it was devious but it only lasted a little while, until he had started to like the "chicken hot dogs and ham hot dogs." And NO --- there were no long-term side effects of my little trick. He didn't grow up thinking everything was a hot dog. He's a fabulous 15 year old boy!