If you don't like your dinner, breakfast will taste extra good in the morning..
I don't know what kind of mom you are, but my heart is not strong enough for this. For many years, I have cooked different meals for all of us. You don't like Brussels sprouts? I'll stir fry mushrooms for you. Don't feel like having boiled potatoes? How about mash or scalloped potatoes?
I'm not convinced this is the best way and I'm sure it will not teach my children to taste different foods. Making them eat things they absolutely despise, is not the answer either. I'm still traumatized by my mother's "hutsepot". Ugh! She would make me eat it for dinner. I would cry over it and she wouldn't let me leave the table until my plate was finished. By then, the "hutsepot" was cold and even more repulsive. Just the smell of it, made my stomach twirl. Then why did she expect me to eat it? I could never understand and up until this moment, I'm not going to eat "hutsepot". When she got sick of watching me sit there, poking the dish without eating it, she told me to leave the table. First thing I got the next day: exactly... the game started all over again, until tears rolled down my cheeks and vomit came up in my esophagus trying to get rid of that nasty stuff. I would constantly gag and the food would sting in my throat, in a desperate attempt to go some place. I wished I could disappear somehow or someone would call my mom, so I could spit it out. Her method obviously didn't work, on the contrary. I will NEVER EVER eat this horrible "hutsepot". I guess my children will never try it either. Is that so bad? Will they lack vitamins if they don't eat this food? Don't think so..
Then what is the best method? How do you make kids enjoy all kinds of food? By eating it yourself? I know kids imitate their parents all the time. So yes, my kids love frog's legs, they like shellfish and complicated dishes, they don't even mind spices in their food, but no, they don't like cabbage, turnips and leeks and all those snotty vegetables. They despise the rim of fat around meat and yes, just like me, they cut out the lean piece and give the fatty bits to their dad.
I make them eat veggies every day but they get to pick their own choice. Whether they have their greens cooked, steamed, baked, fried or even raw: I don't care! As long as they have veggies on a daily base. And that works well. If that means I have to make zucchini pancakes or spinach casserole: that's what I do. Cause in the end, we all want to have a good time around the kitchen table and we don't want to nag about food...
I'm not convinced this is the best way and I'm sure it will not teach my children to taste different foods. Making them eat things they absolutely despise, is not the answer either. I'm still traumatized by my mother's "hutsepot". Ugh! She would make me eat it for dinner. I would cry over it and she wouldn't let me leave the table until my plate was finished. By then, the "hutsepot" was cold and even more repulsive. Just the smell of it, made my stomach twirl. Then why did she expect me to eat it? I could never understand and up until this moment, I'm not going to eat "hutsepot". When she got sick of watching me sit there, poking the dish without eating it, she told me to leave the table. First thing I got the next day: exactly... the game started all over again, until tears rolled down my cheeks and vomit came up in my esophagus trying to get rid of that nasty stuff. I would constantly gag and the food would sting in my throat, in a desperate attempt to go some place. I wished I could disappear somehow or someone would call my mom, so I could spit it out. Her method obviously didn't work, on the contrary. I will NEVER EVER eat this horrible "hutsepot". I guess my children will never try it either. Is that so bad? Will they lack vitamins if they don't eat this food? Don't think so..
Then what is the best method? How do you make kids enjoy all kinds of food? By eating it yourself? I know kids imitate their parents all the time. So yes, my kids love frog's legs, they like shellfish and complicated dishes, they don't even mind spices in their food, but no, they don't like cabbage, turnips and leeks and all those snotty vegetables. They despise the rim of fat around meat and yes, just like me, they cut out the lean piece and give the fatty bits to their dad.
I make them eat veggies every day but they get to pick their own choice. Whether they have their greens cooked, steamed, baked, fried or even raw: I don't care! As long as they have veggies on a daily base. And that works well. If that means I have to make zucchini pancakes or spinach casserole: that's what I do. Cause in the end, we all want to have a good time around the kitchen table and we don't want to nag about food...
2 comments:
Same here ...... :-)
Als ik ooit een kind heb, wil ik toch proberen het bij één maaltijd te houden en het kind daar van laten eten. Als het het niet lust of wilt, prima, maar dan krijgt het ook niets anders. Het volgende eetmoment wil ik dan ook niet vervroegen; gewoon zoals we het op andere dagen doen.
Ik zou wel niet zo ver gaan als jouw moeder en het dan blijven achtervolgen met datzelfde eten. Bij een volgende maaltijd kan het weer gewoon eten wat de pot schaft. En aangezien dat dan meestal boterhammen ofzo zijn, zal het kind heus niet omkomen van de honger, zeker? ;)
Maar ik besef ook dat dat makkelijker gezegd is dan gedaan. Mijn moeder deed het zo, en toch is de methode niet heilig gebleken; ik eet ongeveer alles, de twee onder mij ook nog min of meer, maar nummer vier eet al minder en nummer vijf is een echte 'picky eater'. Wel eentje van de soort die gewoon de ingrediënten die ze niet lust uit haar bord vist en de rest netjes naar binnen schuift. Omdat ze wist dat ze moest eten wat ze kon krijgen en dat er echt geen kans inzat dat ze een ander bord zou krijgen, of zelfs geen boterham in de plaats van warm.
Ik ben in ieder geval jaloers op hoe jij vier verschillende menu's uit je hoed kunt toveren, allemaal even smakelijk uitziend en dat dan nog soms twee keer per dag. Sjieke dingen!
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