I was walking into work the other day and a coworker caught up with me. He and I have two children the same ages so we started to talk kids. This day we talked about food and the hilarity—and frustration—we experience with our munchkins. He told me how his 6-year-old rejected any croissant that came his way unless it was from Premier Moisson. “It is so bad that when we travel we actually check before hand that there is a good pastry shop in the vicinity,” he said. I laughed uncontrollably because I could totally relate.
Just a few days ago during breakfast Brooke screamed something from the living room. The scream was nothing particularly coherent so I had no clue what was wrong. I ended up going to her and when I arrived she was lying on the couch with chewed up bagel coming out the side of her mouth.
“Brooke!,” I snarled. “What are you doing? That is so rude and unlady like!”
“This bagel is disgusting!” she said as the remnants of white bread dropped from the corner of her mouth onto my couch and floor. Argh! Is all I could muster up. But she was right—I had bought the doughy, grocery store bagels that one time. If anyone has had a Montreal bagel there is no going back but does she have to be so picky??? Sigh.
Now, it is kinda funny, but kinda not. This kid has given me headache after headache over her picky eating ways. For the first month of school her lunch box would come home full of food. I would reluctantly open it every night and then throw a fit that she didn’t eat anything all day except carrots and fish crackers. I went as far as taking her grocery shopping so she could pick out what she wanted. That didn’t even work! Finally she came home one day and told me she wanted a sandwich with meat, no butter or sauce, and lettuce. I also decided to home bake her favourite cookies and carrot muffins. Other than this, my kids are pretty good with eating and eating well. I am lucky. But I know some parents whose kids live off of peanut butter sandwiches!
In these cases, according to the experts, it is best not to make a fuss but to continue to offer food in very small quantitites. Children also learn by example so parents should try varying food choices. And pediatricians often point to liquid intake and oversnacking as culprits with the picky eater syndrome. Some solutions that may help with mealtime battles include:
- making mealtimes friendly
- serving child-size portions
- turning off the TV
- offering a variety of foods with different textures
- setting regular mealtimes
- try involving your children in the preparation of food
But overall mealtime should be made simple and fun.
For me opening the lunch box isn’t so traumatic anymore and I always make sure to buy Montreal bagels.…
