Don’t let that sweet, pout face suck you in…See that perfectly, balanced, healthy meal? He ate the corn. ONLY. Usually he is all about broccoli but for some reason this night’s broccoli was “funny” tasting.
And those 5 tiny pieces of chicken? The cause of the face. The cause of the retreated stance. And the cause of the resulting tantrum, bottom pop, and immediate bedtime.
To be clear, he did not earn the pop because he didn’t eat. He got that because of his actions during the tantrum. I’m still not completely sure I know why I decided that I was going to put my foot down on this issue. I think it’s because he went to a friend’s house and was willing to try shrimp there but I can’t get him to try a piece of chicken (which tastes a lot like the Dino Chicken nuggets he eats!!!) at our house.
Dave and I have been…ok, well, I have been wondering if we are enabling T’s picky eating/refusal to try new foods. He is a good eater in that he eats really, really healthy foods. Today’s lunch? Peanut-butter sandwich, carrots, cucumbers, kale leaves and some peanut-butter crackers. He even instructed me which compartment each thing went into. He ate some of the kale leaves to be sure they were, in fact, the “salad” that he liked. THEN he grabbed the rest of the cucumber and asked if he could eat it on the way to school… “uh, sure, kiddo.”
We just can’t get him to try new, different things. I got him some “Mickey Mouse” shaped chicken nuggets because they were made with whole grain breading unlike the dino nuggets. He maybe ate them twice before declaring that he didn’t like them at all. Sure enough, I get the dino nuggets and after some initial complaining, he ended up eating two of them. And also let me know that he likes them better withOUT the ketchup.
*smack in the face* Most kids will eat more things when they are covered in ketchup, or ranch dressing. Not, Tarleton.
Why am I complaining? I don’t know. Dave and I kind of think we should stick with what he likes because, well, other than the typical snacky-things (donuts, cupcakes, gummi worms) he eats healthy all by himself. He will say “I don’t like that now, but I will like when I’m bigger. Then I will try it.” So maybe we should just listen to him and let him let us know when he’s ready to branch out. It’s been working so far…he started eating spinach leaves and kale leaves when I started juicing them; he asked to try them instead of putting them in the juicer – and he liked them!! He likes them so much he will pull pieces and eat them before we’ve even paid for them at the store.
So again, I ask, maybe we should just listen to him. We should still ask and offer, but maybe he will try all these new things when he’s a little bigger. In his little world, a little bit bigger is every single day. He could suddenly ask to eat something new and different tomorrow because tomorrow he will be a little bit bigger than today.
Team Thiessen 