Fussy eaters - have found a little trick that's helped us

[Itsdone]

DS who is 4 is a really, really fussy eater.

I've decided to try and crack a new food (with emphasis on veg) each week.

Sounds daft but he's been really taken with me making up little stories about the foods - sweetcorn aliens, 'beanlings' and Pea People.

Sounds so daft but it's working.

Hope it helps someone.

[Queendedede]

My boys have generally been great with food but when my eldest was about 4 (now 6yrs old) he really wouldn't eat peas. Not a big deal but we have them regularly so wanted to encourage him to eat them. At the time he was really into sea creatures and the sea so we told him they were 'mermaid peas', picked especially by mermaids from the sea bed..... Needless to say he HOOVERED them up from then on and even now, 2yrs later, he often asks if they are 'mermaid peas' still!

[Itsdone]

Aww!!!

Pinching that one too!

[HJBeans]

Lovely!

Slightly more devious, maybe, we've had luck introducing new foods by calling them things he already likes. So salmon was 'special pink chicken' until he accepted it and then we taught him another name for it. Has so far also worked for quiche ('pizza') and broccoli ('beans') and potatoes / mash / rice ('chips').

[Itsdone]

We've done that too!

Although watching him play outside yesterday he was chatting about "chicken sausages" to bemused friends!

Bless.

[HJBeans]

Yeah, we've worried that 'pink chicken' actually sounds quite unhygienic were he to mention it to nursery staff!

[Magicpinkshadow]

I have also used stories to encourage mine to eat, also gave sprouts names like Bob Fred and joe which worked a treat. The other 'game' I played at the table was to get dc to close their eyes and see if they could guess what combination of food they were eating!

[Itsdone]

Ooh good ideas!

[troubleatmillcock]

That's hilarious!

DS is too young to get that really, but will definitely try when he's a bit older.

[ThatsNotMyHouseItIsTooClean]

If I can get one spoonful into DS, then I sometimes bring the next spoonful up to my ear & hold it there for a couple of seconds before saying something along the lines of "what's that, Emily Elephant spoonful, you want to go into the tunnel and down the big slide into DS's tummy and play with Peppa. OK. Off you go" and, once that is swallowed, do the same for Suzy Sheep, Rebecca Rabbit etc

[Itsdone]

The things we have to do...

[HeartsTrumpDiamonds]

This reminds me of that Charlie & Lola book where tomatoes are moonsquirters and peas (or carrots, I forget) are from Mars

[AdjustableWench]

Genius! Do you think it would work on a 12 year-old?

[dansmum]

My 11 year old has never eaten prawns 'hates them' but tucks into those 'princess seapearls' in the fish pie with great guusto...even now...when she k ows they are absolutely the same thing...

[LaChatte]

I used to build landscapes for DD as she was really difficult (a bit of a shock after dustbin DS who ate everything from olives to snails ). So I had to be creative for her, I'd do mashed potato (with hidden veg mashed in with it) and I'd plant trees in it (broccoli or cauliflower), meat would be rocks, and any sauce would be a swamp or river. DD was a dinosaur or monster who ate everything (wasn't great for her table manners but hey ho) and she would take immense pleasure in ripping up the trees and drinking from the swamp.

[ObsidianBlackbirdMcNight]

I love th special names! Salmon was 'Christmas kipper' in our house for years as my gparents used to send it in a hamper at Christmas and that was the only time they had it.

[facedontfit]

I used to say Broccoli* makes you fart!

"What do you want for breakfast?

"Broccoli!"

*Insert any vegetable

[IAmcuriousyellow]

Ha ha LaChatte you have reminded me of "volcanoes" - a mountain of mashed sweet potato mash with peas and corn in, a carrot path, broccoli trees, cut up sausage "rocks" and ketchup for the lava. Also the epic failure of "the enchanted broccoli forest" - that only happened once ??

[MTWTFSS]

[H3]

My 3 yr old will eat anything that is sad to be left behind...'oh no poor Mr pea or Mrs carrot, all alone on the plate'...(She called Hetty the Hoover mean the other day so I told her Hetty was sad....2 minutes later she came down to give her a big hug!!) My 8 year old DS loves money so will try most food for 50p! £1 if I'm pushing his limits! Not sure if this is the right way to go but it works for us & he's been annoyingly fussy since 1 yr old! Found out a few foods he likes along the bribery way :)

[QueenShrieky]

Ds had an extremely narrow range of foods when he was very young (autism related). None of the usual tricks would work so we had to be quite creative. Everything he ate was beige so I wanted to bring in some colour (ie, veg).

We took advantage of his interests. When he was into maps and the Olympics, we told him about the rings representing the continents and arranged circles of food (carrot or banana slices) then got him to eat 'Europe' or 'North America'.

When he was obsessed with Walking With Dinosaurs, we bought loads of cooked meats from Sainsbo's deli and (literally) spread them around the dining room floor (on paper plates - we're not that manky ) and role-played carnivorous dinosaurs, fighting each other for the meat. The agreement was, whatever we won in a fight, we had to eat. Then we did the same for plant-eating dinos. It wasn't a runaway success - he'd eat things while playing the game but only a handful made their way into his general repertoire, but it did expand it and, significantly, removed some of his fear of trying new things.

I mentioned this on MN at the time and got shot down as the ponciest parenting some had ever heard .

[originalmavis]

I just tell DS that its 'aunty Xs recipe'. He thinks that my sister is the mother of all chefs.

[Vickisuli]

I thought of Charlie and Lola too - moonsquirters, green drops, cloud fluff and what did they call fish fingers? Something from the supermarket under the sea. Damn it I'm going to be looking on the bookshelf with a torch....

Never had to resort to it much with mine but I do tend to say that quiche/any form of savoury pastry/tart is 'like a special kind of pizza'. Also my girls used to be quite excited to eat "Grandad's special carrots", just because he cut them into strips instead of circles like I do, they obviously tasted different.

My little boy aged 5 said the other day, "Do you know why Batman can see so well in the dark? Because he eats carrots! That's why I eat carrots at school dinner so I can see in the dark as well as Batman." Give that dinner lady a medal :-)

[IDismyname]

Viki - surely you know that carrots taste FAR FAR better as batons .

[antimatter]

I used to call broad beans from the can - moons.
Kids loved eating them!

[BananaThePoet]

I wrote this poem to encourage kids to eat their veg.

If you saw your food like I do
It would make you smile and laugh
Cos gazing over your plate is like
an aerial photograph
It's not broccoli or Brussels sprouts
If you play you're in the sky
It's forests of trees and cabbages
Beneath your giant's eyes.
You reach your giant hand
Carrying a giant fork
And spear a tree or two
And stick it where you talk
You are so giantly giantish
Living a giant's life
That you can eat six cabbages
No need to use a knife
They fit inside your giant mouth
And you give them a giant chew
And suddenly greens are much more fun
If you see them like I do.
by Michèle Alter Brenton