Kids and Food

What is it with kids and food? Does anyone else have this problem with their kids? You make something you think (and are pretty sure) they will enjoy and it takes an act of Congress to get them to take just one bite. Most of the time it's not anything new. It's something they have had numerous times before and even liked but, for some reason, they won't touch it now. Then, you just throw something together and you think it tastes just okay but they rave about it.

One day this week I was in the mood for soup. The only meat I had available was smoked sausage so I cut it into small bites, sautéed it and made vegetable soup. The kids gobbled it down and raved on and on about it. Mike and I thought it was okay but not as good as what the kids made it out to be.

Yesterday I cooked a pot roast in the crock pot, made loaded mashed potatoes, and heated up a can of green beans. I also cooked a can of biscuits (Hannah refuses to eat ones I make from Bisquick) and made a gravy from the liquid left over from the roast. Hannah and Will both gave us a fight about eating. Andrew ate pretty well but it took some time (nothing unusual). At first, Hannah ate okay and raved about the potatoes. Then, all of a sudden, she turned into Ms. Hyde, refused to eat her meat and gave us a fit. Will, on the other hand, took very minute bites and took forever to eat half his plate of food (he didn't have a lot to begin with).

This morning, I made a homemade Orange Coffee Cake, the same one I made for Dick and Daphne while at their house. When I made it the first time, the kids all ate a bite and seemed to like it. What they didn't like was that it was called a coffee cake. No matter how many times I told them that it didn't contain coffee but you traditionally ate it with coffee, they did not believe me. I figured they would eat it (it was still hot and fresh from the oven) but they wanted frozen waffles instead.

UHGH!! It would be nice if they were consistent with their likes and dislikes and try new things without complaining. One thing I do, and generally have good results, is to bluff them. If we are eating something new or if they are giving me fits about something they don't like, I tell them they ate all of it the last time I made it, they loved it and asked for more. Something else I did was to tell Hannah that her friend Layne liked a particular meal. Most of the time, if not all, she would eat it all and ask for more. That tactic worked when we were eating a lot of Homemade Gourmet meals since Layne's mom is a consultant for the company.