The tips I am about to share with you are a bit… unconventional.
I am well aware of the fact thatI am not a perfect parent and havemade PLENTY of mistakes along the parenting way.
{{Sometimes I’m amazed that my kids arealive at all.}}
Somemay say those mistakes created my picky eater, but I love Jesusand His Spirit lives in me and thereforeI must remember that my weaknesses are opportunities for the Lordto redeem and get glory and draw me ever-so-much closer to Him in the process.
These tips were birthed out of a long and frustrating season with an extreme picky eater who ended up pooping out his poop sac because he was so constipated from malnutrition (you can read about that HERE– IFyou have a strong stomach).
Every kid is different and sometimes we parents need to get creative to get results.
So if you’ve tried hiding vegetable purees in your child’s pancakes and you’ve tried renaming vegetables as well-known super heroes and you’ve tried spending30 minutes making carrots and celery look likea spaceship only to watch your stubborn child precious little angelgo to bed hungry because herefuses toeat food that isn’t beige –
THESE TIPS ARE FOR YOU.
It took the better part of a year (and a lot of nights spent praying for a broccoli breakthrough), but I am happy to report that my extreme picky eater is now happily munching on that broccoli, AS WELL AScarrots, green beans, spinach, asparagus, strawberries, raisins, zucchini, mushrooms, peppers, onions, apples, and grapes – to name a few.
Ok, I guess I should say he’s mostly happily eating those things.
Ok, somewhat happily.
Ok, so it’s more like how you feel about exercise – you do it because you know it’s good for you, but it’s not like you’re frolicking up the sidewalk to your local gym with a huge smile on your face.
(Except for the fewcrazy birds out there who actually enjoy breaking a sweat and waking up at 4 am for a run or for spin class or for CrossFit. **These are probably the same people who don’t have picky eaters.**)
The point is, we’ve come a lonnnnng way from that fateful night last July.
And these Extreme Picky Eater Solutions were what saved us.
#1 – Vegetable Brain Washing
One of the most important aspects of training picky eaters is to change the way they think about food.
They need to see foods like spinach and blueberries as powerful tools to fuel their body and foods like nuggets and ice cream as occasional blessings (and by occasional I mean only a few times a week:-)).
So I have made it my mission to sneak in ‘vegetable subliminal messages’ whenever and where ever I possibly can.
I downloaded THIS APPfeaturing dancing, happy vegetables and let my boys play with it at special times throughout the week.
When we have pretend play in the Happy Buddy’s kitchen and he asks me what I would like to eat, I ALWAYSask for a salad. I am happy to enjoy his delicious felt cupcakes and delectable plastic cookies only after I have eaten all my veggies.
We watch lots and lots of Veggie Tales and I make comments like, “Oh, look at Larry. He’s a cucumber. Mmmm, I love cucumbers.”
We talk about the differences between ‘God-made’ food and ‘man-made’ food.
Once we were at a birthday party and they were serving cupcakes with green-dyed shredded coconut on top. The Happy Buddy pointed toit and said, “Look, Mommy! Zucchini!”
Bam. Brainwashed.
#2 – Tiny Bites
Once we tried to give the Happy Buddy some full-sized strawberries and he went and threw up all over the back of the couch.
**He has sensory issues.**
So I started cutting everything to be the size of something Polly Pocketwould be pleased with and this helped our vegetable and fruit eating efforts tremendously.
#3 – Dip It
Picky eaters usually like ketchup.
As long as I’ve got a bottle of the red stuff in the fridge, the Happy Buddy can get through almost any vegetable I serve him.
(Except avocados – the texture on those is just way beyond his capabilities.)
And, besides, we all KNOW that ketchup is a vegetable, too, so it’s alllllllllll good.
#4 – Wrap It up, Serve It Again
This is the tip that brought us the MOST success in getting our boy to eat – BY FAR.
I make a healthy dinner. I put a sufficientportionof it on my child’s plate. He is responsible for eating it.
If he doesn’t eat the food on the plate (in a reasonable amount of time – sometimes we have to set a timer as a motivating factor), then I wrap it up and put it in the fridge and his job is to finish it in the morning.
It sounds harsh, but let me tell you something – we only had to do this TWICE before the Happy Buddy realized if he ever wanted to see Saturday-morning pancakes or scrambled eggs and toast again, then he’d better finish his dinner.
Now please don’t thinkI’m militant about this every single night. If he’s tired or sick or he really (really) doesn’t like the meal or seems to genuinely be not hungry, there is always GRACE.
But for the most partall I have to say is, “Hmm, I wonder how that will taste for breakfast?” and his food is gone in a matter of seconds.
#5 – Bartering
I have found that sometimes having nutritionally unprofitable foodaround can be highly beneficial to getting mychild to try new, healthy options.
For example, the other day the Happy Buddy had a hankering for pretzels.
So I calmly said, “You can have pretzels, but first you caneat this yummy bowl of carrot sticks.”
If he is reeeeeally hungry, he will eat the carrots. If he’s not, he’ll just be hungrier fordinner.
It’s a win-win.
#6 – Fun Times
Some people might say these tips are more power plays and could potentially make mealtime a negative experience for my child.
To that I would say – Um, do you even know me??
There is a reason why this blog is called HAPPY Home Fairy. I’m ALL ABOUT pursuing a happy home. So even though I might be laying down the law when it comes to what my kids eat, we always have a good time in between reminders to get all that broccoli in his belly.
We useTHESE Free Printable Conversation Starters.
We play the soundtrack to Frozen.
I occasionally perform selections from the Broadway musicalWicked.
We eat on plates shaped like Mickey Mouse.
We have dance parties and hug festivals when someone tries a new food or eats everything on his plate without complaining.
We act silly – like just tonight the Happy Baby wasn’t eating his lasagna, so I pretended to fall asleep. He called out to me and I over-dramatically startled awake. He burst into laughter and then immediately asked for me to do it again.
So I said I would do it again only if he took a bite of his food.
Needless to say, I had to ‘fall asleep’ about 50 times, but the plate got finished.
#7 – Be prepared for some drama.
You would not even believe the scene that went down in our kitchen one day several months back over a GRAPE.
A grape, people.
But – by the strength of God alone – I stuck to my guns.
Because the thingwith picky eaters is that they can wear you down. You’re so tired of fighting all. the. time. that you give in and throw a few nuggets in the microwave instead of having them eat the dinner you prepared.
All the visions of happy, peaceful family mealtimes you had as a starry-eyed pregnant woman are shattered as you watch your child go into hysteria over one small grape.
But if you’re really serious about seeing your Happy Buddy grow as an eater, you have to be ready for a battle (and possibly some spinach thrown in your face).
Hebrews 12:11 says, “No training seems pleasant at the time. In fact, it seems painful. But later on it produces a harvest of godliness and peace.”
I often have to remind myself that parenting involves TRAINING and any kind of training requireshard work and time (even the perfect Crossfit-ing parents will agree with me on that). 🙂
Try to see every vegetable kick back, every mealtime meltdown, every defiant ‘no’ as an opportunity to help your child grow into the person God wants them to be.
It won’t be easy, but I promise you it will be worth it.
For EVERYONE involved.
So, sweet Mama, be encouraged.
The harvest will come.
– Julie 🙂
*I am NOT a nutritionist or a dietitian. I am only sharing what was helpful for our family – which is quite possibly completely different than yours. You ultimately know what is best and what will work for your Happy Home!*
**I may or may not have bribed the Happy Buddy with a chocolate chip cookie to do the above photo shoot. :-)**
