In pre-child days I swore I’d never give birth to picky eaters. Picky eatin’ kids are an indicator of Plain Bad Parenting! I rolled my eyes at stories of kids who refused to eat what was put before them, and the parents who gave in to the whims of their spoiled offspring.
Well, ha ha. I’ve learned. Some kids are just pickier than others. Most will grow out of it. I look to Mark as the best example of that. He was the kind of kid who didn’t like their cake touching their ice cream. And now he eats all kinds of things (okay, maybe not tomatoes, peppers or onions) from a fantastically wide range of multicultural foods: Indian, Japanese, Middle Eastern etc. And you know what, Mark turned out okay. Sure, he might have a few extra IQ points if he’d eaten his peas, but I think the jury is still out on that one. ;)
As it pertains to my children, I try not to stress about it too much. What helps is this: I subscribe to the supertaster theory. They’ve done studies on this. (Wiki here)
I truly believe that some people have a different sense of taste, and actually taste things differently. Have you ever wondered why some people like broccoli and others hate it?Â
We all have our dislikes, so why would I force my kid to eat something she doesn’t like? I certainly don’t force myself to eat foods that I hate (i.e. organ meats and soggy brussel spouts … *shiver*) just because they’re supposed to be healthy.
Emma is a choosy eater. Thankfully, many of the foods she chooses to eat are healthy ones, so we are able to work around her tastes. I can list the foods that she will eat.
bread (any kind, but we usually eat whole grains)
butter
cheese – cream cheese, mozzarella, sometimes cheddar
peanut butter/jam/mayo
red/yellow/orange peppers
carrots
corn
green salad (with dressing)
cabbage-based coleslaw (with creamy-style dressing only)
fruit – all kinds
ham
steak (medium rare, with ketchup)
hamburger (with ketchup, only cut up without a bun)
bacon
sausages / hot dogs
breaded fish
chicken (add ketchup)
potatoes (oven-baked in fry format or as regular fries… forget mashed, boiled or anything else)
hummus
milk
juice
yogurt
tomato soup
Lipton “short noodle” chicken soup
crackers
pasta (Spaghetti with meatballs is her fave, but will eat lasagna and linguine with pesto as well. Not mac and cheese)Â
pizza (pepperoni and cheese)
onion rings (gack)
cereals – anything … but we mostly eat multigrain Cheerios and Rice Krispies. She often eats my granola. And likes pre-packaged maple/brown sugar oatmeal.
There may be a few things I’m forgetting, but I think that’s about it.
Oh god. Would you look at that list. I don’t think I’ve laid it out for myself like that before. It’s not very long, is it?
My mother is rolling her eyes right now. I know it. (Hi mom!)
Emma has expressed her dislike of meat. So for example, when we have tacos or fajitas she’ll eat them “vegetarian style” – with salsa, sour cream, lettuce, cheddar cheese and red peppers. I’ve told her that she’s free to be vegetarian, but before she undergoes a big dietary conversion she has to add a few things to her diet, namely, a whole lot of vegetables and beans.
It’s not always easy, but I do try not to make a huge deal out of her limited palate. I remember, as a kid, being forced to finish what’s on my plate. It wasn’t fun. If Emma prefers to eat raw red peppers, but not roasted, I’ll serve it to her the way she likes. What’s to be gained by making her eat something she hates? But at the same time, good health is all about variety, is it not? And despite the fact she’s eating carrots and peppers and green salad on a near-daily basis she is not getting the variety I think she needs.
I was mulling all of this over in the vitamin/supplement section of the grocery store. In my hand was a twenty-something-dollar container of Greens+ for kids. It contains extracts of a very wide range of fruits and vegetables. See the list here.
We could have gone the vitamin route, but what convinced me here was the appearance of kale (!), beets, brown rice, sweet potato, spinach and alfalfa … right there on the label. And as I said, my concern with Emma was never a lack of vitamins. I think she’s done ok in that area, it’s the variety… especially the lack of green vegetables in her daily diet.
The other day she was moaning about the green salad we were eating as part of our dinner, AGAIN.
“Well,” I said, struggling to resist preachy mummy mode. “It’s practically the only green vegetable you eat.” At this point in the conversation it can be said that I started counting them off on my fingers. “You don’t eat broccoli, green beans, spinach, asparagus, bok choi, celery…”
I bought the Greens+ stuff.
I told Emma what it was, basically explaining it to her as a vitamin drink that has bits of vegetables and berries in it. She was agreeable. What I didn’t tell her was that if she took it I’d calm down about her lack of veggie variety.
She’s been taking it for five days. They say to mix it in water or juice. We tried it in water on the first day. She choked it down and told me she didn’t like it very much. I tried it. I didn’t like it very much either. The powder is brown, but once it’s stirred into the liquid it is purplish-brown with a berrylike smell. But it still has an underlying cardboard taste. Since then we’ve been mixing it with ½ cup of orange juice at breakfast, which she’d be drinking anyway. It’s better with the juice, but not THE BEST tasting drink experience you’ll ever have. This is not a beverage to be savoured and enjoyed, like a fruit smoothie, or say a chocolate martini. I might buy some berry juice. It might taste a bit better.
Emma seems to understand that this is a drink that needs to be drunk for other reasons than thirst and enjoyment.
She’s been surprisingly good at taking it. I offered it to Sarah (even though little Miss Eats Peas-and-many-other-things doesn’t really need it) but she declined.Â
