You’re extremely knackered, zero strength to whip up anything fresh but you know you’re heading back home to meet hungry vampires and understandably, you head to the nearest McDonalds to get chips and chicken or mac and cheese or any of those other junk food variants. It’s all nice and easy, the kids LOVE it, so you do it one time, two times till it becomes what you always resort to all the time. The downside to this? Your kids’ palates now want nothing else and you’ve now created a picky eater. Every other thing you make them afterward now seem to taste subpar. No amount of tricks is getting them to eat the fresh, homemade stuff. They throw eating tantrums every chance they get. All they want is mac and cheese and when do they want it? NOW!!!
Allow me to wax philosophical but when faced with any problem, I like to use the deconstructing trick to work my way up into fashioning out a solution– and it alwayssss works. So the analogy I relayed up there wasn’t me judging you, it’s something that actually happened to me. And what did I do? I used the good ol’ “get-em-involved” trick to break the mac ‘n cheese yoke!
My
Putting your hands in dough? Let them too. Washing veggies and cutleries? Let them join in. Make pretend animated characters of certain veggies to amp up the fascination– this one helps! It’s really stressful and things can quickly get dirty but it’s worth it in the long run. Make each cooking experience a memorable one. Chances are that they’d want to try out what they had a hand in making.
Another trick: Well, not so trick-ey since it does involve putting in work and tricks shouldn’t take so much effort but kids are already a bag of it anyways; Don’t be afraid to experiment.
In getting them involved with cooking, don’t stick to the same recipes all the time. The idea is for this exercise to not get boring. Experiment with all foods: sour, pickled, sweet, smoked, bitter, cooked and all other unusual flavors. In experimenting with a wide array of delicacies, you’re also widening the spectrum of their palates. Not just that, you’ll be teaching them to get adventurous when it comes to food because you’re not making mealtimes predictable. And at this point, you’ve already broken the picky eater hex.
But be careful…
Go easy on the choices as things can quickly go left from there. You don’t want them thinking there’s a bag of endless food supplies that they’d never have to eat the same thing more than once. Nothing encourages a picky eater more than that. Also, do not make a habit of asking what they’d like to eat. Kids are cheeky, when they know you allow them a certain level of control they’re likely to overplay their hands. So be firm with it at times.
Make it a family thing
Make mealtimes a time to connect with your family. It’s usually the only time you all have to be in one spot together at once so why not make it count? Everything these days is so on-the-go, and it’s no surprise it rubs off on the kids when you can’t get them to concentrate on taking more than one bite of their food. It might be difficult to do all the time, but making the effort to, once in a while imparts a difference.
Make that hated food your own snack
They hate mashed potatoes? Make it your pretend-snack. Wear your exaggeration hat and really make a fuss of loving it while pretending to ignore them. Their curious butts will really want to know what the fuss is all about and then at this point, when they ask for a spoon, make sure you’re simultaneously putting one in your mouth, ready to make an exaggerated show of how great it tastes.
NB: Some kids are smarter than this as this doesn’t work for all but not to worry, there are still further traps to set, so read on. 😉
So if they do break your heart by spitting it out, pretend to not see them and keep your exaggeration hat firmly in place. Now is not the time to get out of character!
That food might be too cold or warm.
Sometimes it doesn’t need a trick. You’re probably not serving up the right temperature. You definitely wouldn’t eat pasta or rice served cold if it doesn’t come with a hefty money prize.
Lie about things sometimes…
A little white lie doesn’t hurt, especially if it’s for a good cause. Like when I told my little bug the beans he wouldn’t give a second look at was what Spider-Man had as a little boy up until he turned 6. So guess who’s ready to make baked beans a daily staple till he’s 6? Yeah, you guessed right!
These kids need to eat, so instead of forcing things militia-style, why not have fun doing it?
- How To Revive Your Sex Life After Baby - October 17, 2023
- The Sona App Aims To Make Your Child “Sleep Like A Baby” And We Tested It - May 14, 2023
- 7 Ways To Get Some Alone Time As A Mom - March 1, 2023
