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CanCan vs. The Picky Eater

They say that every family has at least one; my younger brother was the kid who didn’t eat anything except for cheese crackers and artificial orange juice.

I never thought that I would have to deal with that as a parent, (I was so optimistic pre-kids), but my firstborn son is definitely on the picky side.

He doesn’t like to eat things that aren’t finger foods, or things that ARE finger foods but make his hands dirty. This list could probably go on and on, but if you have a picky eater in your bunch, you already know exactly what I’m talking about.

www.wellesse.com and www.twittermoms.com encouraged me to share five tips for making sure kids are getting the important vitamins and minerals they need for strong bones.

Here is what happens in the Mom Most Traveled homestead:

1) Serve a variety of veggies prepared in appealing ways. Opening a can of green beans is just not good enough for the picky eater. I’m talking about a taste-tempting gastronomical adventure!

Don’t be intimidated; it isn’t as difficult as you think. My secret weapon for preparing eye-catching veggie dishes that my boys devour is my Mandoline Slicer. I got it at a department store on a special sale day and with a 20% off coupon, and I use it three or four times per week.

My favorite use is to slice any kind of veggie relatively thinly, and toss it in a bowl with about 1/4 a cup of olive oil. Then I spread out the medley in a roasting pan or cookie sheet and sprinkle it with freshly ground pepper and freshly ground sea salt. Put it in a hot oven for 30 minutes, and serve with couscous or pasta.

I am not kidding, my boys eat veggies like this every time. Thinly sliced potatoes are almost a “chips” texture. Other family favorites are whole baby carrots OR large carrots sliced into disks, pumpkin, fresh green beans, always onions, sometimes squash, and broccoli.

Maybe it is the bright colors or the manageable sizes and pick-up-ablility of the veggies, but this dish is a winner, and so simple to make.

You could even roast the veggies and then make a home made pizza with them.

Other favorite family veggie dishes include Bobotie or Korean Spinach Salad.

2) Look at what foods your children enjoy, then healthitize them!

Did you know that you can substitute applesauce for oil in baked goods? You can also replace an egg with a mashed banana.

Besides these healthy substitutions, I often like to add healthy additions when baking.

Grated veggies like carrots or zucchini go well in the muffin batter.

Rolled oats can replace a portion of the flour in banana bread, muffins, or cookies for added fiber.

Sesame seeds are VERY rich in calcium and can be added to just about any recipe.

Other “sneaky” additions: pureed pumpkin, or a tablespoon or two of flax seeds or sunflower seeds.

Check out our uber-healthy Pumpkin Muffins! Or get on a google search for “breakfast cookies”!

3) Make taking vitamins an exciting daily event.

Don’t sigh and say, “Time to take your vitamins, kids.”

Make it sound like something they should WANT to do (they probably do!).

Vitamin time! Woohoo! My boys actually like taking what they call “strawberry medicine”, a fish oil supplement for kids: Nordic Naturals - Children’s Dha.
We also take My First Flintstones Multivitamin Chewable Tablets for Ages 2 to 3 Years, but it might be time for Jojo to graduate to the next level of big boy vitamins soon!

I am also interested in Wellesse “Liquid Sunshine” Vitamin D, but we haven’t tried it yet!

4) Presentation is everything!

I try to pull out all of the stops to make food look appealing. We use cute dishes, special cutlery with animal faces on it, cloth napkins, and favorite cups.
And yes, I am the mom who makes a food smiley face whenever possible and uses cookie cutters on the cheese slices.
Remember “fried rice face with shrimp mouth and onion uni-brow”?
Have you ever heard of muffin tin meals? The idea is to create a miniature smorgasbord of food options to present to your child in a cute non-threatening way. Check out this Muffin Tin Meals flickr group for lots of inspiration!

5) Despite all of your effort, keep it low key!

You are in a battle with your picky eater, but you can’t let them know that!

Believe me, I know how frustrated you are! However, engaging in a full on confrontation will only be counter productive.

I have noticed that even my choice of words can make the difference between Jojo willingly eating or not.

If I say, “It’s time for dinner,” his response is always a whiny, “Nooooo! But I want to PLAY! I don’t LIKE (fill in the blank whatever is being served)”.

But if I say (seemingly to myself), “Ooo, yummy spaghetti! This is going to be GOOD!” He usually will approach curiously.

One time I made him a plate of chicken nuggets and he said he didn’t want any when he saw me take the cookie sheet out of the oven. So, I piled high a plate of nuggets for my husband and gave Jojo an empty plate.

Maybe that was kind of mean, but do you know what he said?

“Hey! I want some nuggets too!”

I talked to his dad to see if maybe he would share with Jojo. We played our parts well and were gravely serious.

In the end Jojo ate more nuggets off of Papa’s plate than I would have even served to him.

That just goes to show that picky eaters really don’t always know WHAT they want; it is up to you to teach them!

Now if only I could figure out how to deal with the other child, who eats everything from everyone’s plate!

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