How do you get your kids to eat?

[Maria_H]

A couple of cookbooks about getting kids to eat healthfully have been in our bestseller list lately.

Jessica Seinfeld was recently on Oprah to talk about her cookbook Deceptively Delicious. That appearance shot the book up the bestseller list and boosted sales of Missy Chase Lapine's The Sneaky Chef, which was also selling very well for us before the release of Seinfeld's book.

These books encourage parents and caretakers to sneak more healthy ingredients into their dishes. So a chocolate brownie now contains spinach puree or blueberries or carrot puree. Pancakes contain beet puree, rendering the final product pink. A grilled cheese sandwich employs sweet potato puree.

Very clever, right? Do you sneak and deceive to get your kids to eat better? If so, how? If not, what do you do?

[kc0mwl]

I serve my 3-year old all kinds of things and he'll try almost anything. I don't sneak anything into his food to get him to eat it. Instead, I play pretend with him and tell him that the turkey we're having is parrot meat, or that the beans are moth larvae and other outlandish things like that. He loves to pretend, so that often works. Or I tell him that the grapefruit segments want to be in his stomach so they can play with the scrambled egg he just ate, and that does the trick. I also tell him what nutrients are in the different foods and what part of his body they will help keep strong, like: "carrots have Vitamin A in them, which helps your eyes see better." He goes for that, too. He has to try one bite of everything, or he loses a privilege, like dessert. He is a thin, active, healthy boy.

[Maria_H]

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Maria_H wrote: Jessica Seinfeld was recently on Oprah to talk about her cookbook Deceptively Delicious. That appearance shot the book up the bestseller list and boosted sales of Missy Chase Lapine's The Sneaky Chef, which was also selling very well for us before the release of Seinfeld's book.

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The debate heats up with Lapine filing a law suit against the Seinfelds for copyright and trademark infringement and defamation. Read more about it.

[Merryworld]

I always throw some very finely chopped veggies into the spaghetti sauce and no one is the wiser. My kids also love pesto, and never noticed when I made it half spinach and half basil. Neither did my husband. Instead of white bread crumbs I put oats in the meatballs and meatloaf. Taste and texture is the same.

[kiakar]

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Merryworld wrote:
I always throw some very finely chopped veggies into the spaghetti sauce and no one is the wiser. My kids also love pesto, and never noticed when I made it half spinach and half basil. Neither did my husband. Instead of white bread crumbs I put oats in the meatballs and meatloaf. Taste and texture is the same.

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nice trick!

[Merryworld]

_____________________________________________________________________________________________
The debate heats up with Lapine filing a law suit against the Seinfelds for copyright and trademark infringement and defamation. Read more about it.

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I've looked at both books and the recipes are substantially different, though they both make use of fruit or vegetable purees. But that is nothing new and I think Moms have been deceptively sneaking things into their kids' food since time began. Even the back of the Kirkland prunes bag has a recipe for chocolate chip cookies using a prune puree. And I was really surprised that neither book has nutritional information for any of the recipes.

I tried the Sneaky Chef brownie recipe. I hated them but my kids ate them. Now there's a trick - brownies my kids will eat and I won't.

Slate has an article this little teapot tempest, as well: http://www.slate.com/id/2181684/

Message Edited by Merryworld on 01-15-2008 05:12 PM

[mrsronaldweasl…]

One thing I noticed about my incle who has a four year old kid is that ‘they ask’ what the kid wants to eat. And it usually ends up with his kid bawling because he only wants to eat chicken skin with rice. Its not really healthy. Do not make it a habit to show your child to point out what he wants. Like, ‘look, chocolate, you want this?’ it becomes a habit. I suggest, next time , if its not too late to do this.. do not ask what your child wants. There is time for personality development when he’s old enough to understand and decide.

[kiakar]

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mrsronaldweasley wrote:
One thing I noticed about my incle who has a four year old kid is that ‘they ask’ what the kid wants to eat. And it usually ends up with his kid bawling because he only wants to eat chicken skin with rice. Its not really healthy. Do not make it a habit to show your child to point out what he wants. Like, ‘look, chocolate, you want this?’ it becomes a habit. I suggest, next time , if its not too late to do this.. do not ask what your child wants. There is time for personality development when he’s old enough to understand and decide.

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Most of the time, drs will say to have healthy choices available for children and when they are hungry they will eat. That is, do not allow junk food around children if they are not eating what they need in their diet. And when they get hungry they will turn to what is available to them.

[mrsronaldweasl…]

Exactly. And that’s one thing most people I know forgets. They allow their child to eat, touch, and taste whatever. And we know the kinds of food that are addictive and tastes really good. For example chocolates.
What the child doesn’t know wont hurt him.
I believe if he gets used to the taste of well picked nutritious food, then there wont be any problems. More nutrition, more chances that your kid will make it a habit to eat more and get more healthier.

I say don’t ask him what he wants, (unless he’s like 18, lol) until he’s old enough avoid asking him what he wants to eat, and just feed him food that’s right,.

[kiakar]

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mrsronaldweasley wrote:
Exactly. And that’s one thing most people I know forgets. They allow their child to eat, touch, and taste whatever. And we know the kinds of food that are addictive and tastes really good. For example chocolates.
What the child doesn’t know wont hurt him.
I believe if he gets used to the taste of well picked nutritious food, then there wont be any problems. More nutrition, more chances that your kid will make it a habit to eat more and get more healthier.

I say don’t ask him what he wants, (unless he’s like 18, lol) until he’s old enough avoid asking him what he wants to eat, and just feed him food that’s right,.

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You are right, mrs.ronaldweasley, I have seven grandkids. Six of them eat anything all the time, I have one that was raised by parents who never kept junk food in the frig. Only introducing her to healty choices. She was around three before she tasted candy, and that was me that done that. ha. But she still eats healthy and she is eleven. She is a Florida gymnist and is really really strong. So I know she is so different from the rest of my bunch. She eats junk now, bu tis very limited in it. She has never liked MacDonalds or any fast food places except Wendy's and then she likes their salads and baked pototoes. She was Seven when we went on this trip to Maine. We couldnt find any decent restaurants where we were at the time and had to stop at Mcdonalds. She cried and thru a fit. Didnt want nothing in that joint. But we did convince her to try a salad and she ate that but didnt enjoy it.

[the_mad_chatter]

The bane of the modern mother is the chicken nugget.  I placed a whole roasted chicken on the table and the kids asked me what it was.  I have banned chicken nuggets from the house, my kids thought that's the way chicken is born-as nuggets.

My youngest has decided to boycott dinner for the past month easy.  I tell him he's got two choices-what I fixed for dinner or hunger.  At 6 pm on the dot he will ask me what we're having then will tell me "I choose hunger".  I'm working on it.  He's gaining weight and still otherwise healthy.  I'm hoping this phase will end soon. 

[Merryworld]

Mad Chatter, I feel your pain and am there with you. A few years ago, I made Thanksgiving dinner. I pulled a beautiful turkey out of the oven and my daughter asked in a disgusted voice what it was. I explained it was a traditional Thanksgiving turkey. She replied, "Can't we just send it to Fear Factor." (in case you don't remember that show, there was always one segment where contestants had to eat something disgusting like insects or raw pig intestines.)

She will eat roast chicken now, but she's still incredibly picky, and worse, fickle. One day she loves something, the next it makes her want to vomit.

Ah well, this too shall pass. The best I can do is teach her how to cook and what makes a healthy meal, and pretty soon she'll be making her own meals.

[Clippership14]

We started out thinking healthy when our kids were babies. When it came time to try out food we started with vegetables and went through a whole line of them before moving on to sampling meats. Fruits and juices came last (to avoid developing a sweet tooth too early). My kids love to help cook and we also usually grow a garden. Children are more interested in eating things they help prepare or grow I've noticed. We don't eat out a lot and junk food is a rarity. This is mostly because of food prices. I make just about everything from scratch when I can (so I can have more control over what goes into things). They get treats enough when they see their grandparents but I have my limits which even the grandparents do not dare defy. No carbonation for one. It eats the calcium in your bones and the sugar in that stuff...! Kool-Aid is another one I try very hard to avoid as it eats the lining in your stomach. I've found my kids really enjoy it when we keep fresh fruit and vegetables in the house. They'll ask for those more often than anything else, especially if the vegetables are chopped up ahead of time. When we do eat out we tend to favor ethnic or family restaurants or Subway. I grew up on McDonald's and such and I'm tired of places like that. As they get older and learn more about food and what's in it I'm hoping they'll make good choices on their own. I agree it helps to educate kids about food. To see what happens when you put certain things into your body can be a turn off to a lot of junk food. Plus the good old question of how much energy you want to have. My kids and I do exercises together most mornings too (or I put on music for them to dance around). Good habits are best developed when they're young! I wish I had had more of those when I was a kid.

[Timbuktu1]

I have a teen=ager and I know that if I even mention food I'll get an argument. So what I do is prepare a large fruit salad (it's the season for great fruit). I don't say a word about it. I find that either she eats it on her own or, sometimes, I'll make a bowl for her and without saying a word, I put it in front of her, whether she's on the computer or the tv or reading. As long as she gets a nice bowl of fruit, I feel better. Now milk is another story!

[GSB65]

We make only one meal and that is what we eat.  There are no other options available and everything must be at least tasted before you can claim to not like it.  Most of the food make now is homemade or as close to it as we can get.  Our son is 11 and eats almost anything that is put in front of him and I think the way he has been brought up has a lot to do with that.  I think parents need to set the example of being "good eaters" and the kids will follow.