scene: breakfast
offerings: brioche, cereal, English muffin, yogurt, BANANA
me: Hey, M, would you like to cut the banana for us this morning? (offering her the chance to be involved in meal prep, all together now... Kids who are involved in meal prep are more likely-not gauranteed-to eat the foods they help with.)
M: no, gross, I don't want any banana
Me: You don't have to have any, please don't say 'gross,' but I want to cut it up for everyone to have some if they want. (I cut the banana.)
30 seconds later...
M: what's that yummy smell? Oh, it's the banana. May I have a piece of banana, please?
Me: Of course, help yourself. I like how you asked.
M: (happily eats banana chunk, after about 10 seconds, makes a face...) You know why I don't eat lots of bananas? They give me canker sores.
Me: Oh, really? Hmm.
remember, kids are tiny, irrational and unpredictable people around food. That is why we have to be predictable and neutral...
Very true.
ReplyDeleteI just love this. I wish we could all normalize the kind of parental wisdom you describe. What a lovely, more pleasant, and more competent culture we would be!
ReplyDeleteTHank you. I am grateful every day that I found this peace with feeding. My home feels more pleasant, lovely and competent around food! I agree. Trying to get the word out!
ReplyDeleteWow, I am so impressed by how you remain so calm and non-judgemental. This site has been a huge help to me; I love learning about how these feeding principles actually work in day-to-day life.
ReplyDeleteI think our daughters might be twins--that is exactly the kind of conversation we might have.
ReplyDeleteI have an example of involving her in food prep that made a big difference: M has always disliked cheesy, pasta-y foods (I have the only kid who doesn't like mac and cheese) and whenever I serve lasagna she literally gags on the ricotta filling. The other day I got a wild hair to make stuffed manicotti (a excellent Cook's Illustrated recipe where you use no-boil noodles and roll up the tubes instead of trying to stuff them). Miranda loves to help me cook (most of the time) and it was a fun recipe to do together. I showed her what ricotta looks like before it gets heated in the oven, and she tried it on a spoon both by itself and again when the cheese stuffing was mixed and ready to roll in the noodles.
She thought the taste and texture were weird at first but I could tell that she was warming up to it. And once the manicotti were done, she dug in with gusto for the first time ever. Success!
Of course, being a "tiny, irrational, and unpredictable" kid, she may decide she hates it again next time. :-)
Mine doesn't like peanut butter! That recipe sounds delicious! What a great example. I bet you had fun, it was pleasant, and you didn't pressure her. Fun!
ReplyDelete