Thursday, January 17, 2008

Food Issues

Tomorrow we are going to hit a Greek restaurant for lunch!! I am excited about it. I can't say I have eaten much Greek food. I looked at some recipes to maybe make some but there were just too many strange ingredients that I was afraid of. Who know maybe I will try it and decide to cook it myself!!

I did make an awesome crock pot full of chili tonight which was gobbled by everyone except my one sweet picky eater. Faith has really grown and gotten to be such a great eater, but chili is just asking a little much.

Eating was a parenting issue that I wasn't sure how to deal with when we first became parents. I struggled quite a bit with food when I was little. I was determined not to create those same problems in my child, but created in the process a whole slew of other issues. I was determined not to make her eat anything she didn't want to when she was very little. I ended up creating a very strong willed not-eater.... A few years into it Mike and I changed our philosophy on parent-feeding, and things have gone a lot smoother. We began encouraging her to try new things in small bits. It was not a pretty sight in the beginning. Let me tell you there were some down right ugly meals. But when she realized our will was stronger than hers and we weren't asking her to eat an entire plate of something she hated, she did begin to try new things. We were able to slowly add more and more things and increase the amounts. We went from a child that wouldn't eat pizza with sauce on it to a child that would not only eat the sauce but ask for pepperoni on it!! Now she doesn't love certain things still, like spaghetti with sauce and meatloaf will never be a fave, but she will eat a Faith portion with very little complaint and will even thank me afterwards for making her dinner!

Kristen

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Our motto is the same, you have to try a little and then sometimes we just have to say "not everything we serve is going to be your favorite" but you still have to eat it.

Good luck on the Greek food, I would start with the Gyro chicken if you never had greek food, it's just a very flavorful roasted kind of chicken.

Anonymous said...

Maddie went 24 hours without eating at the tender age of 2 I believe. Completely pediatrician sanctioned. JD learned that "that smells yucky" is NOT the thing to say when mom is putting a plate in front of him. Annaliese just goes along for the most part. We've never made them eat all of the food on their plates(especially when Dad serves them) because we have our own food issues to deal with but yeah, they have to try it and sometimes choke it down.