Anyone that knows my family well knows that mealtime is a struggle. I dread it every single night except on Mexican Monday, formerly known as Taco Tuesday. Taco night is the only night my children eat with no battle. It is the one night that I know they are getting quality grass fed meat. Quite frankly, I feel like Taco night sustains them for the week.
It hasn't always been this way. When we were a family of three and Harrison was a toddler, he was a pretty good eater. I wasn't an adventurous cook at the time. We fed him a ton of those disgusting Gerber graduate TV dinners. Yuck. That poor child. He ate a decent variety of meat, fruits, and veggies. He even liked a few exotic things. Fast forward to sometime after his second birthday. The food drama began. He would refuse to eat things that he normally loved. As he grew older, the list of things he enjoyed became fewer and fewer. As a nine-year-old boy, he weighs about fifty-five pounds and you can count his ribs. He will only eat ground beef, certain types of chicken nuggets, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, apples, bananas, perfect grapes, oatmeal, cereal, cottage cheese, yogurt, very limited types of cheese, crunchy tacos, spaghetti, cheeseburgers, almonds (sometimes) and a handful of other things. He will eat most junk food though.
Kadie started out as a pretty good eater too. She isn't quite as picky as Harrison, but her list of foods that she will actually eat is not much longer than Harrison. Her picky phase started closer to age three. Sam has been the best eater of the three, but he is starting to get a bit pickier and doesn't really expand his palate. We personally feel that most of Harrison's food issues are because of his texture issues and sensory processing disorder. He will literally make himself gag to the point of vomiting with many foods. Because he is the oldest child and the example that Kadie and Sam see at dinner every night, they follow his lead. When Harrison sits down at the table and expresses his disgust for a meal, they usually aren't far behind him.
So, this leads me to the epiphany. Friday night, we had Asian beef cooked in the crock-pot with broccoli and other stir fir type veggies. To make a long story short, Harrison had a super rough time with dinner and ended up getting sent to bed because of his attitude. Later I explained to him that I worry about him because of his eating habits and the only reason I want him to try new things is so that he grows to be healthy and strong. We are trying to teach our children that we eat to nourish our bodies, so the choices they make need to be quality foods most of the time. Harrison has actually been evaluated by a feeding therapist and qualifies for therapy, but our insurance won't cover it. Anyway, about ten minutes later, he was crying in his room. I went to check on my pitiful boy. He told me that he wanted to try new foods and be healthier, but he didn't know how and that he just didn't like most foods. I explained to him that it actually takes 7-15 times to try something before you can say if you actually like it or not. Thanks Dr. Google for that tidbit of info. Now, I've told my kids hundreds of times that they have to taste something more than once to decide if they like it, but it actually struck a chord with him on this particular night. So, we decided right then and there to make a food list. I told him that I would do it with him because I have texture issues with most fruit. On our food list, we wrote down all of the foods and drinks that he wanted to try. I explained I would put a tally mark beside each time that he tried it and that after 15 times of trying it, he could wait until the following year to try it again if he had not acquired a taste for it. So we made up a list of foods together, which consisted of mostly fruits and veggies. We put a lot of the things that we grow in the garden on the list. He decided that night to try an orange because they seem like they might be delicious. Sam loves oranges and eats several a week. So Harrison ate one orange wedge and sucked the juice out of another wedge. He was so proud of himself! And we added a tally mark next to the orange because we both ate some.
The following night, we made a big garden salad with grilled chicken chunks. We had lettuce, raw zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, yellow pepper, radishes, avocado, garbanzo beans, sunflower seeds, cheese, and croutons. This seemed like a great time to try new foods. We explained that we expected him to try everything, but that he didn't have to eat all of it. I also had a back up food so that he wouldn't go hungry. Well, Sam and Kadie wanted in on this too and of course I obliged! We coached the kids through each bite. We took the bites of the same things together and talked about the way each bite would feel in our mouth and how it might taste. This worked really well. We weren't angry or disgusted and the kids were all really willing to try new things so that they could get those tally marks.
I was absolutely astonished at the results. There was no gagging, no fighting, and no crying. Everyone ate their food; tried new things and we had a very peaceful dinner. That NEVER happens! Harrison thought lettuce was okay and added tomatoes and garbanzo beans to the things that he likes. Kadie liked cucumbers, tomatoes, and radishes. Sam actually ate most of his salad without complaint.
Then tonight, I made chicken salad to eat on sandwiches and crackers. Chicken salad has never been something any of them would eat. Quite honestly, I make really yummy chicken salad, so they are really missing out. Kadie and Sam ate every single bit of theirs and Harrison didn't like his. However, he did eat tomatoes. Kadie ate a plate of cucumbers and tomatoes with hers too!
So I added something to up the ante. My kids are competitive, so I decided to play on the competitiveness a bit. The child who eats and enjoys the biggest variety by the end of the summer will earn some sort of prize.
I'm sure you could be really creative with the food lists. We just wrote the food names in different colors of markers (to match the food). We are keeping ours on the refrigerator for easy access. We are also making a huge deal celebrating their successes. High fives, cheering, clapping - you name it. I'm eager to see what kind of variety of food my kids eat by the end of the summer. My goal is to introduce them to something new a few times a week. I'm curious to know if this works for anyone else. Keep me posted.
Peace out!
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