Day 7

The menu tonight:

Cube steak (Both kids like cube steak, so that doesn’t count as new)
peas
biscuits

I can’t  believe what happened tonight!  Both kids tasted the peas.  Not much, but they tried them.  Justin ate cube steak and biscuits.  Eric ate cube steak, then moved on to peanut butter.  I can’t complain today!  I’m worried about tomorrow.

The boys have 4 more days for me to torture them, then we go to Rocklahoma & their Grandmothers are in charge.  I don’t expect them to follow through with this, I wouldn’t if I didn’t have to!  Actually, my mom was planning on continuing!   I suggested that she may want to rethink things, unless she wants a battle & a crabby 7 year old.

Exposure?

Last night was a choice night, so I will share some information I found. 

I have been trying to look for recipes and tips to get these kids to eat better.  I found one that had “lessons to cope with picky eaters”.  They send tips to get kids to eat without forcing, threatening, or bribing.  Sounds great, right?  Yeah, not so much.

This lesson talks about how all you have to do is expose the kids to new food & eventually they will eat it.  Their example, put broccoli on their plate everyday for a month and make sure you eat it yourself.  See, their theory is that all you have to do is expose them to the food and model eating it yourself.  I call bullshit on that one.  There are many things that I like to eat and have been modeling all their lives and neither kid will touch it (like lima beans).  Then again, if you read through the article, it never says that the kids will eat the broccoli…

For now, I will do what my parents did, what I should have done years ago, I will make them it eat.  Because I’m the mom and I can (and because Sarah has given me advice – thanks).

Day 6

The Menu:

Chicken and rice
Garlic bread

Justin’s lucky day, he likes everything.  Eric, not so much.  Grandma ate with us tonight, so we didn’t get the passive Eric that just doesn’t eat.  No, we got the whining, crying, threatening, evil Eric who ate nothing.  I’ll have to explain to Grandma that he doesn’t usually act like that.

Day 5

We’ve had a couple “free choice” nights, but not tonight!  Our menu:

Fried minute pork chops
Salad
Cresent rolls
Cheese rice

Eric again ate a pork chop (without the breading).  I don’t know what’s wrong with this kid, but he pulls the breadin goff of everything.  Justin had to try the rice or salad before he could have the pork chops & rolls.  After a lot of crying & whining, he finally tried the rice, which is apparently disgusting.   By a lot, I mean almost an hour!  At least he finally tried it, maybe we are getting somewhere with this one.

Day 4

Today’s Menu:

Fried and Grilled fish
Salad
Cresent rolls

Eric ate nothing.  Justin not only tried both kinds of fish, he asked for more fried fish (3x’s).

Day 3

Today’s menu:

Stir fry beef with rice, green peppers and sugar snap peas

Justin loves the beef, he used to eat rice but hasn’t in over a year, and claims to hate all vegetables.  He ate all of his rice, and liked it!  He also tried a raw sugar snap pea (and gave it a 5), a cooked pea (this got an and a green pepper (this got a 3).   Eric ate nothing.

Day 2

The menu:

Pasta with sausage sauce and chicken strips

Eric ate the chicken, but pulled off the breading.  He hadn’t tried this chicken before, so it counted as a new food.  Justin loves plain pasta and this chicken, so he had to try the sauce.  He reluctantly tried it, but said it was too spicy.

Day 1

Tonight’s Menu:

Green Beans (new food)
Garlic Bread with cheese (new)
Steak (Justin likes steak, Eric will occasionally tolerate 3-4 bites)

Eric ate nothing.  Justin managed to eat 6 green beans (and rate them a 5) and a bite of the bread (which was declared as too hard).  Eric may starve.

The Rules

Each kid must try at least one new food.  Justin needs to eat 6 bites, Eric needs to eat 4.  Then they will rate the food on a scale of 0-10.  If they rate they food a 0-3, they don’t have to eat it again.  If they start giving everything a 0 they will have to eat it anyway.  If something makes them gag, it’s a 0.  If they ask for more, it should be an 8-10.  If one of them doesn’t eat the new food, they get nothing.

This should be interesting.  Eric won’t mind if he doesn’t eat anything.  He would rather not eat then try something new.  Justin, on the other hand, will flip out if has to eat something!

New Direction

It’s been a really long time since I’ve even logged onto this blog.  I felt like I never had anything worth while to write and when I occassionally thought of something, it was gone by the time I got to a computer.  Being a teacher, I can’t type anything until afterschool and by that time my head is empty.

Now I’m back.  Not because I have anything interesting to say, but because I may need feedback or advice.  I also will need to vent my frustrations somewhere!  I am trying to repair a mistake I made with my kids.   That mistake: food.

I know everyone has a picky eater.  I’ve tried a lot to get mine to eat.  Other than junk food, Eric will only eat peanut butter (no bread), yogurt, fruit, carrots, and chicken nuggets (if they look right).  Justin will eat more, but getting him to taste anything new is ridiculous.

This will be our journey into torturing our children, I mean getting them to eat.