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If you’ve never had a picky-eater child, you may be a parent who says, “My kid would eat what I tell him or her to eat. I just don’t understand parents who can’t teach their kids to eat what is put in front of them.”
We said that too until we had a picky eater. No matter what we did or how hard we tried, we could NOT get that kid to eat anything other than just a few foods.
How did we handle that situation with a family with seven kids and a very busy schedule?
Most of the time, the child made their own meals. One of the things they would eat is a peanut butter sandwich so if they were not going to eat what we were eating, we would simply direct them to the pantry to make their own sandwich for that meal. There were a few other options, but that was the one most often chosen.
The key here is to not damage the relationship with the child or their confidence in themselves simply because that child has issues with tastes and textures. This issue can create a lot of unnecessary battles between parent and child.
By all means, test him or her. Have them try things and see if you can get some breakthroughs. And keep trying over time. The kid does need to eat more than a peanut butter sandwich.
But our advice: Don’t turn their taste buds into a battleground that 1) you probably won’t win and 2) is not worth the cost to the relationship.
