Raising Good Eaters

I have had playdates with friends or been out to eat with our children, and have often gotten comments like, "Wow...they are good eaters," or "Gosh...how did you get them to eat THAT?" I always smile and just agree that they are good eaters. But then it got me thinking...maybe they are good eaters because I haven't given them any other choice? So how did we do it?

Well...to start, we try to never offer them anything other than what we are having. If I am making something that I am almost certain they will not like (if it's too spicy, for example), then I'll be sure to make them an extra side dish which is served right along with our meal. We have grandparents who like to break this rule, but we try to be firm about it, and feel like it has really helped.

One of the first things I had to realize was that I am not a short-order cook. I cannot make a different meal for each individual in our family...and I won't. Another thing that I have realized is that if a child is hungry, they will eat. Period. It's called survival instinct. If we are hungry enough, we will eat whatever is put in front of us...and depending on how hungry we are, it might even taste good! Hehe. If our toddlers push their plate away after two bites and say they are finished, we try not to fuss about it. "Okay, sweetie...I'll just leave this here for you when you're ready to finish it." Sometimes they come back to finish, and other times, they go to bed "hungry." I put hungry in quotes, because given the fact that we live in middle-class America, they've never experienced true hunger.

Another tactic we use is that we have always used their favorite foods as incentives. They believe that fresh fruit or yogurt is dessert. When it's a meal that our son is really struggling through, we put the cup of yogurt right in front of him to see. He knows that if he cleans his plate, he'll get to enjoy the yogurt immediately after. We always use fruit the same way. Because if I put it on their plates with everything else, then they'll fill up on the sweet stuff and neglect the other foods on their plate.

We also avoid juices. They get it as a treat (half-diluted with water) maybe three days out of the week. They almost exclusively drink water. And it probably goes without saying, but we absolutely limit the amount of cookies, candy, cake, or any other unhealthy sweets...to almost none. We reserve those types of food for special occasions only (birthdays, holidays, etc). And that is only IF they've eaten the healthy stuff first! We may look like the terribly mean parents who aren't allowing our son to eat a cupcake at a birthday party, but if he hasn't eaten the other food provided first, then I don't want him filling up on sweets. He knows the drill, and will typically scarf down whatever is put before him to get his treat! :)

It may help that neither my husband nor I are picky eaters. We enjoy pretty much all food, and hope to raise our children to have similarly diverse palettes. They love spinach, broccoli, asparagus, and brussel sprouts...pretty much all vegetables really. They enjoy a good steak, chicken, fish, or shrimp. And it makes it really easy to take them out to eat, because we know that they'll enjoy just about anything we order for them. :)

So if you're a parent who is a picky eater yourself, my guess is that you'll have a more difficult time teaching your children to do things differently. And if that's okay with you...then great! :) We all have to choose our battles, right? If eating a healthy variety of foods is not one that you choose to fight...no big deal. We have chosen this battle for ourselves, and are quite pleased with the results.

Please share your experiences with your little eaters. Have you had any challenges? What have you figured out that has worked for YOUR little ones?? Or is this not a battle that you've chosen to fight? And why? I'd love to hear from other mommies! :)