Toothpicky Eater

My kids were not picky eaters but I had to get creative to “stretch” them to try new things.  If I offered them something and they didn’t want it, I taught them to say, “no thanks, that’s not my favorite” instead of,  “yuck, I hate meatloaf”.  When you connect the words yuck and hate with an item of food….that’s a long way to go to get them to EVER try it.

My first-born grandson was a picky eater.  It’s not only that he had a limited list of items that he would eat, he was just rarely interested in eating at all.  So, I needed to come up with new ways to stir his interest.  I bought some cocktail toothpicks that are plastic and look like swords.  He would eat almost anything if he could spear it with that toothpick first.  Well, not really anything, but turkey rolled up, cheese, apples, raspberries, and kid-friendly stuff.  It takes longer to eat one toothpick of food at a time, but it was worth it to get good stuff in his belly. 

 He liked yogurt, but if he wasn’t in the mood to eat, no way.  So I would drop a couple of blueberries into the container of yogurt and gave him a 1/4 tsp measuring spoon and told him to try to find the blueberries.  Of course, it’s even more fun if I say “I’ll bet you can’t find the blueberry”.  He would eat the entire container of yogurt with the added bonus of a handful of blueberries.

One day at Potbellies, I ordered him a grilled chicken sandwich, cut up the pieces of chicken, and placed 8 pieces in a line in front of him.  After counting them, I told him to eat # 4. He counted to four and ate the chicken.  It may tell you something about his personality when I tell you that the game quickly changed.  I  would tell him to eat # 2 and he would look at me and intentionally eat # 8.  End result….chicken in the belly.

I would cut up apples into small pieces and the grandkids were horses in a field (behind the couch) and they would eat the apples out of my hand.  I put small bites of food on a small Tonka truck and roll it across the table for them to eat.  I would roll out a piece of wheat bread with a rolling pin, spread peanut butter on it and roll it into a little jelly roll-looking thing.  There are all kinds of ways to make eating interesting….look around your kitchen and get creative.

Most of the time kids need to sit at the table and eat what you offer them off a plate with a fork and spoon. But when you have the time and patience to have a little fun…..well…..it has worked for me.