Last weekend Mark and I made some spiced rice with Lamb and almond sauce. We made a ton of rice. So we got to enjoy it all week. Here's the rundown of the meals:
1. Rice with lamb and almond sauce
2. Rice with store-brought curry
3. Rice with homemade curry and chickpeas--very spicy!
4. Rice with leftover #3
So here was Noah's reaction (and our interferences/encouragement) to the meals
1. Didn't eat any--he had a quesadilla instead (we had friends over and we didn't even offer Noah and his friend food until we finished eating and they were ready to eat. This is pretty atypical)
2. Would not even touch. We did nag him to try it. He wouldn't. He didn't eat dinner that night. (If he won't eat the food we give him, we make him leave the table, and he doesn't eat. We try not to make big deal about it though, just matter-of-fact).
3. Ate the entire huge plateful and asked for more. Neither Mark or I even asked Noah to try it or eat it. We were too busy talking to think about what Noah was doing and finally I looked over as Noah was taking his last bite.
4. ( WE had this for lunch, not dinner) Ate some of it after eating something else. I thought he would chow down like he did the night before but he ate what he wanted and then he was done.
*Update* these meals were spaced out throughout the week, they were not consecutive dinners. He did eat during other meals.
Here are the lessons from this experience:
- Noah ate the best when we didn't make any assumptions that he would not eat the rice and curry
- Just because he wouldn't eat something the first time we had it, didn't mean that he would never try it
- Just because he loved it one night, didn't mean he would love it the next day
I think this sums up the child feeding experience. Kids will surprise us. The worst thing you can do is make a huge deal out of them not liking something so that they have bad memories to go along with that particular food. If they don't eat something one time you make it, don't let that stop you from serving it again as leftovers or as a future meal. Trying to plan all of your meals around all of you child's favorite foods is also not a good plan since one day they love something, and the next day they don't.
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maybe he ate so much the third night because he was super hungry from not eating any dinner the second night? madeleine hates curry and she will never forget one time we wanted her to finish her last few bites and it made her gag. hearing her retell that one always makes me feel like a great mom.
ReplyDeleteI have been having the hardest time getting my 2 year old to eat anything but chicken nuggets, cereal, and waffles!! I will definitely try this and hopefully it works. :)
ReplyDeleteSo true, Hol. This is what I've been trying to do with Leah lately. Totally chill, no fuss, and it works really, really well to avoid the emotional side of it all and avoid fights, etc. It does not work well to get her to eat anything new, though. And I've realized lately that there is nothing I can do to make her try new foods. I can only take all the fuss out of it! This is the big thing I've learned lately. She has not tried a single new food in the last 2 years, but I've realized that's not the goal I need to have. The goal I need to have is to make mealtime a drama free zone, and if they kids eat, great. If not, oh well.
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