Kids & Food

Like I said, I grew up very, very picky. We were forced by our grandmothers to eat everything on the plate or else we could not leave. Meaning, we gave a lot of food to the dog(s).

The best way to get your kids to eat different stuff is start early or as chaos said, incentivizing. You have to make eating new things fun.

I've also found it helpful to have my 3 year old daughter help with meal prep. Here is a picture from earlier tonight of her trying not to cut her fingers off...

Vicodin next to the wine glass.... Gonna be a good night.

chaos_sl said:

This is harder than you think. Sure, you can limit it. But they embed advertising within shows now. Kids are surrounded by advertising and they pick it up pretty well. Just walking through a store you can easily get a sense of how this was designed specifically to be a gauntlet that families must traverse, all the while their kids being assaulted with product placement, well known characters, etc.

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I look around everywhere for advertising when I go out, so yeah, I've noticed. I don't think it is going to be easy, but I'll manage. It is a high priority for me.

My son at 4 and a half is impossible. As a toddler, he ate everything. Now he refuses to eat anything healthy. Everything I try to give him, he will put it in his mouth, gag, then throw up. Won't eat fruit, won't eat veggies, won't even eat roasted potatoes, only French fries.

His diet is turkey bacon, waffles, peanut butter and jelly, keilbasa, chicken and French fries, or pizza.

Our nutrition professor said that kids/toddlers who eat everything early on are very prone to becoming picky eaters later on in life.

Kuriin_sl said:

Our nutrition professor said that kids/toddlers who eat everything early on are very prone to becoming picky eaters later on in life.

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LOL...that's really amusing. For my kids it comes down to :
- This is dinner. No I am not making something different for you. You don't have to clean your plate...but you do have to try some of everything and sit there until everyone is done. So while we're having a family dinner, who did you play with at school today?
- This is your snack. It is *NOT* a reward. It is a supplemental source of energy and/or protein. Maybe it's a Clif bar today...maybe it's a ice cream sandwich tomorrow.
- This is why we eat this way.....so you don't end up at 5'10" 270# on Jerry Springer talking about how you're "healthy fat". These are the health benefits. You know your buddy Rollo that can't play soccer because he can't run? You know that shot you blocked in goal last week? That is hard evidence of why we don't eat junk all the time.
Food is fuel. It is not an emotional crutch. It is not a reward. Sometimes you get something you enjoy, sometimes you get something you dislike. Grow up and deal with it. It is amazing how quickly and easily kids adapt to this when it's presented in a rational manner with no room for weaseling out. That doesn't mean you have to be an ass...just be a loving parent instead of their 'buddy'. For years we've played the game of the different odd things we've eaten or foods from different countries.

I have seen a lot of people say similar things, and I don't really get what the problem is about having food be a reward. A reward isn't something you get every day, a reward is something you occasionally get. Saying to a kid, or an adult, that eating well will be rewarded with some crazy junk that they like, to me that is encouraging.

We're in the middle of potty training our daughter. My wife set aside "snacks" for her for every time she does well. A single fig newton cookie, a peanut butter cracker, a small box of raisins or a single peanut m&m or a piece of dried mango. She gets to choose which one she wants. She rarely has any accidents anymore, and even when she's wearing a diaper, she won't pee until she's able to use a toilet.

I'm glad my wife read up on doing rewards for that. I never would have come up with that on my own.

Just treat them like dogs. "Go potty,"

And make sure to smack them on the nose with a rolled up newspaper when they make a mess

I've also heard that also saying "bad" and "dirty" in a stern voice when she has an accident is quite good for the learning process. And never leaves psychological scarring. confirm/deny?

chaos_sl said:

I have seen a lot of people say similar things, and I don't really get what the problem is about having food be a reward. A reward isn't something you get every day, a reward is something you occasionally get. Saying to a kid, or an adult, that eating well will be rewarded with some crazy junk that they like, to me that is encouraging.

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It's because it teaches the kid to associate good feelings with crappy food. Pleasure centers are being double tapped with sugar and the 'parental approval/reward' aspect. Later on that compounds things like the concept of 'comfort foods'. Depression, obesity, and trying to make one's self feel better with food.... It is a vicious cycle.

Reward a kid with sweets and they get a 5 minute rush. Reward a kid with a trip to the park and they'll be screaming and running for an hour.

I can attest that food was used as a reward in my life for a very long time. Get 3.6 or higher GPA, out to Red Lobster for dinner, my fav restaurant at the time as a kid.

My parents also did the whole clear your whole plate thing.

I can admit now in my adult life I have huge problems with portion control, as I feel the need I have toeat everything in front of me, and I love rewarding myself with going out to eat. And to be clear, yes, I'm obese according to the BMI charts.

I think you can overdo anything, but food is related to some of my best childhood memories. Fresh baked cookies, hot cocoa, savory homemade mac and cheese, etc. idk, I don't think that is a bad thing. No matter if you give it to them as a reward or not, kids are going to associate good feelings to good food because eating it inspires those feelings. I just don't see how you can teach the concept of control without acknowledging that there are foods that are awesome that people want that should not be had every day.

At the same time, we're all going to die and fade away into nothing. Eat the brownie, don't eat the brownie, in the abyss of time it is nothing. In the now, eating the brownie is good and makes you feel good. Eating 10 brownies does not.

I actually listened to that on the way to work. Incentivizing!