Training Picky Eaters

I have a picky kid... as far as food goes, anyway.

We've talked about nutrition. Oh, have we talked about it! We've made a chart to keep up with what he eats on a normal day. We've argued and fussed. We've given in at times and then other times we've forced him to eat. He's gone without food, by his choice, more times than I can count.

What's a mom to do?

Let me give you the low down on his preferences.

• No condiments whatsoever. No ketchup, mustard, mayo, ranch dressing... nothing.
  
• No milk in his dry cereal. (Which is fine now that we don't do much dry cereal anymore.)
  
• No sauces except on spaghetti.
  
• The only cheese he'll eat is on pizza. No mac-n-cheese for this kid: plain elbows only.
  
• He won't touch smoothies. (Good place to hid leafy greens)
• Don't even think about recommending a salad.
• No seeds or nuts.
• No eggs.
• No yogurt.
  
• He LOVES Black Eyed Peas with a passion, but they must be Bush's from a can. ("Mom, did you make these at home or are they from a can?")
• No milk unless it's been made into chocolate milk.
  

On the good side, some of his pickiness has been good for him - he's not filled with HFCS from (our previous choices in) ketchup and the like. Gotta count your blessings, right?

And truthfully, a lot of his pickiness is our fault because he was raised on a processed foods diet and likes his food to be "the same" every time. Same texture, same taste, same shape... you get the picture. As our first child (and only one for a few years), he was able to voice his opinion about what we ate. Admittedly so, I catered to him.

Live. Learn. Move on and change.

I can't and won't cater to each child individually. Although they all like/dislike different things, we've come to a place where I cook and they eat or well, they don't... their choice. Witt is starting to show the same tendencies as Will did in regards to realizing he has an opinion and won't eat something just because he doesn't want to. Stubborn little booger(s). {grin}

Jeff came up with a great plan that really seems to work when we actually use it. We place small amounts of each food that has been prepared for the meal on their plates. This is the amount of food they are expected to eat until they can get more of their favorites. This really reduces food waste, too. There is no more bargaining or threatening. The "rules" are plain and simple.

It's always hard to know which direction to go with food "training".

On the one hand, I was taught to eat everything on my plate. If I took it, I was to eat it. That's still a battle for me even when I'm stuffed and shouldn't eat any more. I'm not saying that's a wrong standpoint to take; I just think that maybe the training needs to be modified to taking less and then to go back for a little more if you're still hungry.

Jeff (and his mother, too) always and I mean always leave at least a bite or two left on their plate. Drives me nuts! LOL! (see above paragraph) I don't think this was something she trained him to do, I think he just picked up the practice by watching her. If I were to implement that practice, I'd probably drop a few pounds... (food for thought!).

Then there is the idea of eating only when hungry. What if they aren't hungry at lunch time? Do I just wait until they are hungry to feed them? That's seems a little haphazard and plain crazy to me as the one who does the cooking, but it would definitely teach them to eat when hungry and not "just because".

I'm sure there are more theories on training kids to eat properly, but they all probably have their ups and downs with no clear cut solution. So...

What are the eating habits at your house? Any picky eaters? Please tell me I'm not the only one that struggles with this! :)