Love the "variety" Parents!!

[Mamma_Mia]

For lunch today I made oven baked Tilapia with steamed mixed veggies & white rice. My daughter who used to it ate it up no problems.

The 3yr dcb started gagging before he even touched it. All he eats is 'junk', constantly at home it's pizza, nuggets, pogo sticks etc. He had maybe 2 bites before was about to hurl it all up so I sent him to potty and bed. bye-bye

After that I was ready for a battle with the 11mos old and SURPRISE she even said "moooor moooor" (more)!! So cute and ate it all up! With wide open mouth when she saw the spoon coming!

Man Oh Man she was a hard battle in the begining but is finally coming out of her shell and.....GASP....I'm starting to even like her!

[kidlove]

Thats so good to here mama, glad your are starting to get used to the little thing....ha ha! isn't it so funny how some of these kids come through our door and we love them instantly and others?.........take s a lot longer.
Glad to hear she liked your food too, what a little stink the other guy is. You know we had some really delish broccolli caserole the other day at lunch and I had one that gagged and cried the whole time we were at the table, (I was not in the mood for it that day) so I asked him to please leave the table go potty and straight to bed and while he was getting his blanket out of the closet for bed (in straight ear shot) I loudly asked...."who wants a cookie?" oooh, I'm so bad sometimes. You know he has eaten his entire lunch ever sense and says "I want a cookie" then I say...oooooh, sorry, don't have cookies today, you'll have to finish lunch for the rest of the week and when i go shopping I'll pick some up for you. hee hee hee.....I always get the last word!

[sunnydays]

Yes, I love parents who feed their kids a variety of foods!!! It's funny, but usually I find the babies (11-12 months) are the best eaters because they haven't entered the picky phase yet...but I have a new one who started with me yesterday and his mom told me he doesn't really like vegetables...really? At 12 months? I was a bit surprised because at that age I haven't found them to have such a bias yet. On the other hand I have a 2 year old who started with me 2 weeks ago and he loves broccol and cauliflower However, he also spits food out when he doesn't like it...charming

[cfred]

I had a little girl years ago who was super picky. Her list of likes was hotdogs, chicken fingers and pasta...that's it! After about 3 months with me, she was eating everything I served, including fresh fish! I gave up on the banana bread as I didn't enjoy cleaning up the vomit, but everything else was a go. I think my rule that 'if you don't eat it at lunch, you'll get it back for snack' certainly held some incentive for her and her list of likes grew astronomically!

After walking into my favourite Asian market and watching a little boy eating a bowl of something with tentacles hanging over the edge, I'm a firm believer that kids are only as picky as they're allowed to be....as I just watched my 15 mo old nephew inhale a bowl of beetroot risotto. Now, we treat new foods as an adventure. I have taken kids out to different ethnic restaurants to try, as we call them, "Freaky Foods From Far Away". We order one really bizarre thing as appetizer and everyone has to have a go at it. I actually watched a 2, 3 and 4 yr olds eat grilled squid and enjoy it enough to order more! So far, the favs are Vietnamese and Mexican

Keep trying, he'll get there.

[kidlove]

cfred, you hit the nail on the head, I have a little one who Mom says "oh, he won't eat any kind of lunch meat on a sandwich, only PB and J!" ah okay? well I can't just feed him PB and J every single day, that's crazy (but that's what he gets at home) I offered him turkey sandwich one day and he ate it all including the provalone cheese and it had mayo on it, :O for a boy who "only will eat PB and J"....he did pretty well. Knowing the Mother, I am guessing he rejected it ONE time and she took that as, "never liked it, and will never eat it!" He is only as picky as SHE lets him be. When he is with her? YES, he is "picky" about everything.....he's spoiled!

[cfred]

Yeah, parents cave sooooo easily. I have to really give my sister credit with my nephew (who's also in my care). She was made all his own baby food, including little pureed curries, etc. He's awesome to cook for! She's of the same mind as me when it comes to feeding kids. I've been really lucky with daycare kids over the past 11 yrs. They ALWAYS come around, despite parents insistence that their kids hate specific foods. You should see their faces when I tell them some of the stuff we've eaten! The squid was the best one for sure....even I was more than a little impressed.

[crafty]

I agree with all of you ... most of them are picky because parents let them and some are just close minded about food so nautaly the child will be too. My own 2 year old at the time ate Oyesters. We went at a restaurant and my husband had some and she wanted to try ... so she did and liked it. My husband and I love to eat to go out and to cook so I guess it comes naturaly.

A father picked up his son yesterday while his boy was having veggies and dip. He said : 'You can get him to eat veggies !?' I myself was suprised that it was even a problem but if they LET him not eat his veggies and given fruit istead ...humm yeah he will be picky about veggies. DUH !

[Momof4]

It's all home cooking at my home and my daycare children love all of it, but I have one little girl who is very picky with veggies. However, I don't try anything overly exotic, just the basic good old home cooking, meat & veg with a good variety all week long.

I have a 4 year old girl who is now refusing to eat crappy prepacked food at home. Her Mom told me that her daughter said it isn't as good as my food. Awesome! I've taught this little girl who is now in JK how to eat nutritious food and before she leaves next year I'm going to teach her that food from a can or box is not a good way to eat.