Picky, Picky

I think it's an unspoken rule of thumb for all moms out there that at some point we fight with picky eaters. It just comes with the territory. Well, no I shouldn't say that because there are children like my cousin's oldest daughter. She's three years old and she will literally eat anything you put in front of her. So obviously there are exceptions to every rule.

But what if you have a picky eater? How do you manage a balanced diet? 

Linking up with Christine, Brittany, and Ashley for Mama Tells All



Well, for starters I have to bring back one of my Blog Love Friday Favorites (from Meagan's link up) One blog I found from a mutual friend is Christina at The Mediocre Housewife. She's a professional blogger (you can see more stuff from her here), and a mom, and just such a wonderful writer. I love all of her stuff! A few weeks ago she wrote about Getting Toddlers to Eat. It hit me close to home because, well, my toddler (and preschooler) doesn't always like to eat. Christina compares getting toddlers to eat to Olympic events, and she's not wrong.

OK... so by now y'all are all rolling your eyes at me. I swear I have a point. Yes, getting picky eaters to eat nutritious food (or any food) can be like an Olympic event. So how do you handle it? Sorry, y'all but knee-jerk reactions of throwing a child-like temper tantrum doesn't count as a solution.
Patience. This is what works in our house. Patience and hidden fruits and vegetables. That's right, y'all I said it: I hide fruits and veggies in my kids diets. No, I don't buy the little fruit pouches to do so either. I buy frozen fruits and veggies and make smoothies. The kids (and I) have at least one smoothie a day to make sure we're all getting nutrients we need. I add spinach, and / or kale with fruit and you can't even taste it. Sure, it's green and gross looking but they love it! I also hide things like spinach in meatloaf. They never know the difference.

What about the patience thing though, Melissa? Good question. Obviously I can't feed my kids liquid 24/7. I do offer real meals in the house, and yes several of the real meals are met with looks of such disgust that you wonder if what you made is even edible. This is where your strength as a mom comes in real handy. The strength that allows you to sit on the opposite end of the table from your kids and give them the stare down with one look in your eye: "I will sit here all night if I have to". This would count as one of the Olympic events that gets an NBC highlight reel!
Eventually one of two things will happen:

1. The kids give up and finally start eating because they're so overly hungry. They finally realize that they won't get the gummy snacks that they really want. They know if they really want the bite of ice cream that Daddy has (because he ate all of his dinner) then they will have to eat, too. 
2. You lose your will power. You give up in the stare down and you compromise. ("OK, Zander, you can get up and go play but only if you eat all of your meatloaf and three big bites of green beans.") This way, the kid you still win because they eat enough to warrant some sort of nutrient but the kid thinks they win. Just be sure you don't let this option happen too often because then the kid thinks this is will happen all they time, and they will start bartering with you before dinner even starts. 

So that's a little of what happens in our house. I also add garlic to almost everything to try and give it a little flavor. How do you other moms approach picky eaters?
Because I love Anne so much and her Wednesday Wishes, I would like to send a wish  to the moms with picky eaters. I wish that this phase passes quickly for you and that you find some peace knowing that one day your children will love all of the foods that they probably hate right now. (Trust me, I didn't use to like rice and now I love it!)