Meals for kids, same as rest or differant?

tiff

My children both turned their noses up at liver and left it all. I asked my Mum if they had eaten liver at her house before, she said yes and they both ate it! That has happened lots of times with different food, I dont know why kids do that though.

starlite_2

I'm not sure either..perhaps as they are around their grandparents less often and are often spoiled by them they don't want to do anything to upset them....
In my case I just knew I couldn'yt kick off at anything whilst there..maybe it's a generational difference and they just have a firmer hand, perhaps from times when money and food were really tight and worrying issues....

Edinburghlass_2

I think Savvy Sue hit the nail on the head mentioning texture! I am sure Rush will agree with me too as she remembers heaving as a child, I too was like that and certain tastes in my mouth or smells can still make me do this.

I well remember chewing and chewing on a bit of meat say and you end up with a wad of awfulness in your mouth that you just can't swallow. Many kids do this, remember the old adage about chewing something well :eek:. Thats why something like fish fingers can be easy to eat.

I hate bananas because of the texture and smell and hated having to mash up bananas when my daughter was small, love pears, apples but don't like apricots again its the texture of them.

Vegetables is another of my pet hates but pureed vegtable soup is quite tasty! Mashing, blending puree and differents names are great ideas.

Don't worry tiff about not being able to bear fussy eaters, I have lived with my fussiness for years and am quite happy to boil my own egg in someone's house if I just can't eat what is offered. Out of politeness I did used to eat what was put in front of me as that was how I was brought up but now I am too old to suffer in silence :rotfl:

and funnily enough I love liver and kidneys, what did I say about texture

rushnowt

LOL, I remember the chewing well Ed'lass, one of the worst episodes was with carrots, I dont know why they are a lovely colour and look really tasty but the smell of cooked carrots was unbearable. I was made to sit and eat them as a child but for the life of me I couldn't swallow. I still cant cook carrots now but i get around this by giving them to the kids grated raw, they love to take them sliced or diced in their packed lunch too.

They're nothing like as fussy as me and are willing to give most new things a try. When I go shopping i take a couple of them with me and let them chose something they've not tried before, they know more fruits than i ever knew as a kid bu they really enjoy it.

If they try something and dont like it, then so be it, I cant expect them to like everything in life, I don't. I couldn't give them liver though, they've had kidney in stews and pies made by grandma but I couldn't cook it. I know its sounds stupid but i'm a bit squeamish when it comes to stuff like that

All my kids love fish too, yet its something else I wont entertain, yes i know I'm a right fussy sod LOL

Spendless

We all have at least one food we don't like I don't mind that. It's the "I don't like it" when they haven't tried it that annoys me.

My own sister was bad as a kid and is just as bad as an adult. She called yesterday and I was telling her about our plans to go to an Indian buffet when we're away next weekend. She asked me what I was doing with the kids and shook her head in disbelief when i said taking them cos they'll eat it.

Mind you she spent the rest of the conversation moaning about what a faddy eater her own son is -lol

VixxAnn

I agree with many of the comments already made.. new names for old foods, pureeing veg etc and would also say, IMO, that family meals are important if you want the kids to grow up eating "normal" food - they need to see other people eating it. Plus general chit chat etc around table is all good for family and encourages good behaviour and table manners. When my hubbie is home late I'm afraid that he just has to eat his meal warmed up in the microwave. I will sit down with kids at around 5.30 and eat with them rather than feed them on their own.

I have just read a fantastic book and I would recommend it to all to read - its got lots of things you probably already know but LOADS of eye openers too. Please get it (if only from library like me!) and I know you'll find useful tips in it. "Healthy Food for Happy Kids by Suzanne Olivier" - I think there's a website too but not sure how much info from the book will be on the site.

One thing she says it to keep on trying a disliked food, put a small amount on the plate or prepare and serve it differently - she reckons it takes about ten attempts to know if they really like or dislike it.

Curry_Queen

VixxAnn wrote:

One thing she says it to keep on trying a disliked food, put a small amount on the plate or prepare and serve it differently - she reckons it takes about ten attempts to know if they really like or dislike it.

This is something I've always done with mine and as I could never remember who liked which type of peas, or whether it was cauli or brocolli on the dislike list this week, I'd just put a spoonful of everything on the plate and if they didn't like it they left it, but eventually they'd try it and end up liking it :rolleyes:

The best one was my youngest earlier this week ... we'd had cauli for dinner on Sunday and there was some leftover so I put a few bits into another dish during the week, think it was chicken in pepper & chilli sauce or something, only he fished them out and said he didn't like it, so I said how come you ate it all on Sunday then and he said "well I was starving hungry then" ... kids LOL! :rolleyes:

gravitytolls

Start 'em early is the best way.

Puree veg and fruit when they're babies, progress to mashing, then finger foods and finally on the plate with everything else.

None of my 7 voluntarily eat many veggies (well Ruby does but she's only 5 mths), so I sneak swede/parsnips into mash. Also try different recipes.

Cauliflower always gets noshed with cheese sauce here.

Hubby cooked Jamie Oliver's recipes for my bday, gave us sweet potato, because it was a special meeal, they all ate it. Now I give em swede and tell em its sw. pots.

Try baking veg. Root veggies; carrots leeks swede, with olive oil, wrapped in foil baked in the oven. Mmmmmm.

Jamaican friend sticks all veggies in the whizzer, then fries it with rice, the kids don't know they're eating it, even cabbage!

And the obvious one is encourage them to help; they'll try most things if they can say I cooked dinner, even if they only did a bit of stirring and serving.

Jamie Oliver's ice cream is super by the way. Whizz up frozen fruit with natural yoghurt and a couple of spoonfuls of honey. Instant, healthy ice cream which keeps for a couple of weeks in the freezer - like it'd last that long.

furrypig

Wow this has turned out to be a really interesting thread!

My daughter has never liked eggs, neither does her dad maybe it's the texture thing.
My son doen't like tomatoes and neither does hubby and these dislikes were not learned as it started from being babies and my son will eat everything.

Interestingly I remember sitting at the table for hours being forced to eat foul things like meat, broad beans, parsnips, mushrooms and Yorkshire pudding. As I grew up my tastes did change and I eat all these things now but still detest Yorkshire puds!

I think this is really interesting about tastes changing and textures, I have just started whizzing up onions, garlic, carrot and mushrooms and adding to mince etc as the kids are really happy to eat them this way (they don't know they are there!).

Curry_Queen

furrypig wrote:

My daughter has never liked eggs, neither does her dad maybe it's the texture thing.

Could it be the yolks? I've always detested runny yolks and after being forced to eat a boiled egg as a child it completely put me off eggs of any kind until I was an adult and could cook them myself. Now I can eat them hard-boiled, fried as long as they're fried on both sides solid, scrambled and omelettes. My youngest is the same and only likes solid yolks too.

Something that's just crossed my mind actually is that kids could possibly make associations with certain foods, i.e. if they had an upsetting experience when eating a particular food it could put them off eating it again, and not necessarily because they don't like it. Maybe something as simple as being hurried to finish a meal made them gag on a piece of food for example, or, as my mother used to do to us, being made to finish up the plate even though they're full so the last bit of food they eat becomes unpleasant. Just a thought but fairly plausible too