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Mommy's Corner: Eat your vegetables.

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Contributed by: Katrina Causey on 6/21/2007

When I speak with a lot of younger mothers, I often hear this statement: "I can't get my child to eat anything but junk." When I speak to older mothers and even grandmothers I often hear: "My children had to eat whatever I put in front of them."

The latter statement always brings on a memory. When I was four years old, my cousin was babysitting my brother, my sister, and me. My brother and sister had been excused from the table because they had eaten their meal and I had not touched my sauerkraut. I hated sauerkraut. I still hate sauerkraut. My cousin told me that I was not leaving the table until I had eaten it. I laid down on the bench and said, "Guess I'm sleeping here."

Appreciating that our children have individual tastes, (just ask a teenager about how her parents dress if you are not sure) it is necessary to allow for differences and preferences when in it comes to food. However, I think that there is something to be said for not turning ourselves into short-order cooks and for getting our children to eat what is put in front of them.

In our house there has always been a standing rule: If you truly just do not like it, take three (decent-sized) bites and move on. Because my children know this rule, their tastes for foods from the vegetable group have expanded significantly. They eat salads and they eat steamed, boiled,and raw vegetables. Because I know this rule, I can tell which child will eat what. This is very helpful in planning our meals and doing our shopping.

We also made sure that the children knew and know that they are not going to trade spaghetti with meatballs for a jelly sandwich. I have a daughter who loves to try this and I applaud her enduring effort, but she always knows the answer. The answer is: "If you are going to die without this sandwich, you may eat half of your dinner and then you may have half of the sandwich, but that will also be your dessert."

Believe it or not, there are many times that she eats all of her dinner and decides that she doesn't need the junk.

If you have a picky eater, try other things. For example, I hate canned spinach, but I love stouffer's spinach souffle. I do not like asparagus, but I will eat broccoli prepared almost anyway. Interestingly, my children are just like me. Whenever I have prepared vegetables the way that I like them, and then enforced the three-bite rule, all five of my children (and my nephews) end up eating their vegetables along with whatever other foods they claimed they wouldn't like.

Another little side bonus to this simple rule is that the children are more likely to try something new, because they know that they won't be forced to eat it all. The moral of the story: "Don't be a sauerpuss, but don't be a push-over, either."

We want our children to enjoy all different kinds of food, not fear them.

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Katrina Causey

Camarillo , CA

Katrina Causey has posted 27 stories and 1 comment since joining on 11/30/2006. Katrina Causey 's average story rating is 4.27.

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