Picky 7Yr Old Daughter Hard to Cook For...

T.,

I have given this advise to many other moms with picky eaters. You cant give in. She's 7. You are the parent. She will eat what is in front of her when she is hungery enough. Many moms have said "But I am worried they will go to bed hungery". Let me tell you, they will only do it once. No kid likes to be hungery. I know this sound crule and insensitive but my kids tried to pull the "I dont like it" card and once they tasted it "WOW" they liked it.

Be tough in a loving way and that picky eater will be long gone.

Hi there,

I also have a picky eater (well, actually two of them) and now that it is getting warm outside I have started to make shakes and smoothies for them with "hidden" fruits and veggies... My son's favorite is nonfat vanilla yogurt with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and a frozen banana. You can buy fresh fruit and freeze it or just buy the pre-frozen kind and use this instead of adding ice, it gives it a better consistency. I use carrot juice in the fruity ones. If you freeze melons and then blend them up it makes a fruit slush that is fun as well. I sneak zucchini and apple sauce into muffins and cupcakes. I also find my kids are more likely to at least try something if they have helped prepare it. Here is a site that has links to several articles and ideas... good luck! :)
http://dmoz.org/Home/Cooking/For_Children/Toddlers/

I have lived your pain! I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old. Here's what I did. I picked my battles. I make sure that breakfast is super healthy - eggs, quality cereal, etc. Lunch, same thing. I find that veggies and meat are the least desirable for the kiddos. I take veggies, like broccoli, peas, etc, and I mash them up & throw it in spaghetti sauce. For the meat, I found that meatballs are super exciting and edible, says the five-year-old.
I also found that the kiddos will eat the good stuff if it's mixed in with the bad. So, I'll BBQ hotdogs, but serve it with cottage cheese and grapes. It's all about mixing the good with the bad. GOOD LUCK!

A few things my mom did growing up that I think really worked were as follow:

1) Many veggies can be shredded and added to most meals. Carrots, zucchini, cucumber, yellow squash, and similar veggies can easily be shredded into alfredo sauces, spaghetti, onto pizza, into mac & cheese, into scrambled eggs, a little mixed into the mayonnaise on their sandwich, etc. If they ask about what the specks are (shredded veggies) say “they’re the spices that make it taste so good.”
2) As the last mom said, let her help you make the meals. In fact, have EACH member of the family (including dad) plan at least one meal for the following week. This helps kids learn about nutrition, budget, cooking, and general responsibility. It also relieves you of having to plan it all.
3) Make a house hold dinner rule. Growing up our rules were “you will eat three bites of each part of the meal before you may be excused.”, “you will not complain about what we’re having tonight. Others will have to eat what you chose as well.”, and if we REALLY didn’t like what was for dinner, we could make ourselves a sandwich and sit at the table with the family; however, any extra dishes created by our sandwich were to be cleaned by us, whether or not it was our turn to do dishes. Again, this rule applies to mom and dad too. One of my brother-in-laws is SUPER picky and, no big surprise here, so was his son. Kids learn by example.
4) We always a drawer in the fridge that had individual portions of snacks we could eat at ANY time. Things like string cheese, carrots, raisins, handful of grapes… things that were healthy. It didn’t matter if dinner was 5 minutes to being done, or if we were going to bed in 20 minutes, anything in that drawer was okay. Anything else we wanted, we HAD to ask for, or my mom would make us put it in the trash. Her theory was “whether it’s a salad in a bowl, or one held in the hand, it wasn’t going to hurt us.” Sometimes knowing that they can have it WHENEVER they want AND have as MUCH as they want makes it a more appealing snack choice than those cookies or potato chips.
5) When all else fails tell her that the food on her plate is the only thing she is aloud to have until she has at least tried 3 bites. Then- DON’T GIVE IN! No kid will starve them selves to death if there is food available for them. They can hold out for up to 3 days, but they won’t die. This sounds cruel, but it is entirely legal. You are not withholding food, you are limiting choices. It took my nephew experiencing this twice before he realized that Grandma is, in his words, “for real when she says you have to try it!” He was 5 or 6 at the time, but now he tastes what is in front of him, no matter what.

Hopefully some of these ideas will work for you. Let us know how goes.
Good luck! –Janell-

I have the same problem with my 7 and 4 year old. It drives me nuts because sometimes I feel like they aren't eating anything! I have tried the "you have to taste it" thing and they chew it then gag and spit it out. My kids also look at their food and pick out anything that looks suspitious. I'm going nuts. Some suggestions I have heard...(they make work for you)
- mix veggis in with other meals
- have dips available so kids can disguise the taste of the food (ex ranch, ketchup, cheese)
- let the kids have choices. "Do you want corn or brocolli tonight? Some times if they feel they have control, it helps.
- Make a veggi chart. My kids like stickers so when they eat veggis, they get a sticker on the chart. 20 stickers equal a prize. i know its bribery, but it sometimes works.

Well good luck. I look forwrd to reading some of the suggestions you get, b/c I can use them too.

I love all the advice you got! I just wanted to add that there's a cookbook called Fast Food Fix by Devin Alexander (a local chef here in LA) that takes fast foods and makes them into healthier recipes you can make at home - it was on The View and they taste tested a few things and even said some recipes were better than the original! Some of them are a bit of work, but they can make good "special" meals that your daughter may get excited about helping you make. Just a thought. Good luck!

Good morning. My five year old son is also an extremely picky eater. Family Fun has some good recipes and also recipes for kids to help cook. I find that if he helps cook it- he will at least try it. Here's their web site http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/
Good Luck

You can try smoothies. Makea fruit smoothie and and a veggie in it. This works :)

I have an 8 year old girl as well as a 3 year old. When I was growing up it wasnt an option, you had to eat your veggies and fruits. So when my girls were young, very young. I introduced all the vegiies and fruits I could. Green beans, corn, carrots, cucumbers, tomato's, brusal sprouts, brocoli, califlower, zucchini, squash (just to name a few), Everything.

They eat it all. Now that my oldest is my 8. She is developing her our taste. She likes all the wired stuff most kids turn their nose up at. Brusal spouts is her favorite food along with spinach. But to eat a potato salad , no way she wont.

I explain to my girls the benifits of eating their veggies. The nutrion and vitiams they get from the foods they eat. Then I explain what they can do once they put that nutrition in their bodies. Playing, jumping on the trampoline, play'n ball. I also explain that it makes them smarter. Helps with reading and coloring and soloving problems. Once the conversation is over they see eating for what it is, fuel for your body. and they see it as less of a fun past time.

Not sure if I helped. Hope you find your way in the veggie world.

C. J.

I can really relate to the worry of getting in good nutrition. My son is 3 1/2 and seems to want to be a vegetarian since birth. He won't eat the proteins we eat (although recently he has started to like hard boiled eggs.) I find that when I involve him he thinks it is fun and is more willing to try more foods. He is a little atypical in that he likes broccoli and most vegetables and fruits. However he likes sugars too much. I found a company that makes delicous and nutritious protein shakes and bars. They have choc or van shakes and a chocolate honey peanut bar that is to die for. He thinks it is a candy bar and will gladly eat it for breakfast. Both the bar and shake have all the 90 essential nutrients building blocks the body requires daily! What a relief. Please call or email me if you are interested at ____@____.com you want me to call you then leave your phone number. Truely these products have put my worries to rest and it hasn't been hard to get him to eat them at all. In fact he asks for them. You can be creative about what else you want to add to the shake- blueberries,raspberries, bananna, peanut butter etc. Also Trader Joe's store has many healthier alternatives to the traditional. Soy nuggets, Turkey meatballs, organic mac n cheese etc. I also like the organic bean and cheese burritos sold at Costco in the frozen section. Another thing we do is have him try 3 bites of a new food. We tell him when he turns 4 then it will be 4 bites! We try to make it fun. Good luck.

Dear T.,

Sometimes children do not eat certain foods because they are allergic to them. ....probably it makes them a little sicky feeling, also they have certain feelings in the mouth that the kids do not like. I know that my gr grandson eats it all, mostly, and when he doesn't like the taste or the feel or he is not hungry, out it comes and he will not open his mouth for another taste for anything.

I did take a list down from the tv the other day and just saw it again yesterday I think that it was from the TODAY show.

Good Fast Foods for Kids:

Morning Star Soy Sausage
Barbara's Original Puffins
Multigrain Cheerios
Kashi - Heart to Heart
Amy's Breakfast Burritos
Kashi - Go Lean Waffles
Bell & Evans Chicken Nuggets
Healthy Choice soups - Lentil or Garden Vegetables
(Lentils make a loooot of gas)
Jennie-o Turkey burgers
Barillo Plus Elbow pastas
Lean Pockets Chicken Parmigan
Lean Cuisine Brick Oven Style Pizza

It was a nutritionist who presented them on the show.

Have you tried baked yams?

Good Luck, C. N.

I actually implemented alot of the suggestions that Janell posted (before the post) but I agree with them!- I've been doing the same drawer thing for months and months and it's great. I keep yogurt, apples, grapes, string cheese and grated cheese in there along with a few other things now and then. There is also a spot in the pantry that is his with raisins, nutri pals bars and cereal (that he likes dry). My son in almost 2 and pretty much grazes all day long and RARELY eats a real meal. Another thing that really has helped him is some stuff called Juice Plus (I found out about it on the askdrsears.com website) he hasn't been sick since he's been taking them and the best part is he things they're candies. They are little gummies that are made from whole fruits and veggies. At least I feel better knowing he's getting a little nutrition! I also do alot of shredded veggies and mix it in with his shredded cheese that he likes. Occasionally he gets wise to the whole thing - but most of the time I can at least get a couple of baby carrots in him without him knowing. He recently picked out some broccoli at the store......i'm hoping he'll eat it since he picked it out! Check out www.askdrsears.com also - they have articles and suggestions about picky eaters....it makes me feel better and lets me know i'm not the only one with a picky little monster!

When I make macaroni and cheese, while Im boiling the water with the noodles I put fresh brocoli into it. By the time you strain the noodles and add the cheese and mix it, the brocoli turns into nothing. Theres some green dots but the kids dont even know they're eating brocoli. Plus, just the juice of the brocoli in there has to have vitamins in it! Sneaky! (hopefully your child likes mac and cheese, most kids do!)