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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Would your dc eat this?

90 replies

Dancergirl · 14/04/2015 11:25

I have some frozen spinach in my freezer and I fancy making tonight pancakes filled with mushrooms, spinach and cheese which me and dh will love.

My dds aren't brilliant eaters (one has sensory issues so she has an excuse) and I know they won't eat it.

Would you:

a) Do the 'one meal or nothing' thing?

b) make a plainer alternative e.g. pancakes just with cheese?

They are 13, 12 and 8.

OP posts:

bumblingbovine49 · 14/04/2015 13:57

DS would probably not eat that, spinach and mushrooms are two things he really does not like, though he is getting better with spinach. I would do a plainer (maybe cheese only) pancake for DS

Original poster

Dancergirl · 14/04/2015 13:59

About the trying one mouthful thing - personally I have found that a child has to try a new food about 10 times for them to accept it is just rubbish.

Some things (e.g. pesto) my dd has liked straight away, others (some veg) she will try 1000 times and still not like it.

OP posts:

Steadycampaign · 14/04/2015 13:59

I would get all three dc involved in making the pancakes with you and get them to put together the combination of ingredients they will like - perhaps add some extra ones like chopped up ham, sweetcorn etc.

RedButtonhole · 14/04/2015 14:02

I'd make the plainer alternative, or do as others have suggested and make plain ones, with toppings in bowls so everyone can help themselves.

DS is a fussy eater, I had a homemade chicken pizza last night that DS wouldn't touch with a bargepole. He had a cooked, plain mini version of my pizza base with some grated cheese and raw chopped peppers on the side.

I also do the plain rice or pasta thing if I'm having chips or potatoes- he wont touch them otherwise!

OutragedFromLeeds · 14/04/2015 14:08

The 'keep trying a mouthful' approach can work. Not with everything, but with some things. It's a more a case of not cutting foods out that they say they don't like than a magic formula where you like something after 10 tastes.

ouryve · 14/04/2015 14:09

I've notice that DS1 is a bit like me when it comes to trying new foods, dancegirl. He can (when in the right frame of mind) launch himself into something new quite enthusiastically, but get halfway through and have completely gone off it either because there's something about the flavour which is offputting or because the texture becomes more noticeable with each mouthful. I have this struggle with peas. I don't instinctively hate peas, but I find them hard to eat. They smell horrible to me if they share a plate with ketchup. Otherwise, I'll have 4 or 5 mouthfuls, then suddenly become aware of the texture of their skin and of their roundness in my mouth. Petit Pois are worse - I struggle not to gag on those.

And I've eaten peas hundreds of times, not just 10 times. I will never, ever find them easier to eat.

CocktailQueen · 14/04/2015 14:09

I wouldn't make something you know they won't eat - but pancakes with a range of fillings that they cold all help themselves to wold go down v well n our house!

FluffyTheEvilOne · 14/04/2015 14:10

I like Steadycampaign's idea. We've done this with pizzas in our family; everyone is given a base, and adds what they want from a selection of toppings. No hassle of trying to do different things, but everyone gets what they want. Also, DCs will get to have their pancakes baked like OP's and her DH's, rather than feeling like they're having a separate ''kids' meal" of cold pancakes and fillings, IYSWIM.

I really fancy some savoury pancakes now...

ThatBloodyWoman · 14/04/2015 14:11

Mine would eat all of those things separately,but probably not put together like that.

Notso · 14/04/2015 14:12

Nobody in this house would eat it happily. Only DH likes mushrooms. Only I like spinach warm. None of us like cheese in a pancake very much.

I wouldn't expect my children to eat a meal they completely dislike. I have a potato hating DS, I still serve it as an accompaniment and he eats round it. I wouldn't give him something where potato was the main part of the dish eg a filled baked potato.

AmateurSeamstress · 14/04/2015 14:13

Dancergirl surely most children have foods that fall into both those categories. My DC liked chocolate first time and have never liked tomatoes. However there are an awful lot of foods that fall somewhere between the 2 extremes, and they've come to like them over time.

BarbarianMum · 14/04/2015 14:15

I'd make one meal and insist they 'manage' it. But they aren't particularly fussy eaters so I can get away with this. I wouldn't make them eat a whole meal of anything they absolutely hated - and I generally find it takes at least 30 'just eat 1 mouthful' to change something they don't like into something they'll happily eat.

Stinkersmum · 14/04/2015 14:17

I'm mildly blown away that children get a choice. I never did. Neither did my DH. Neither will my DC....

ByTheWishingWell · 14/04/2015 14:22

They sound delicious. DD (19 months) and I would love them, DP won't eat mushrooms.

Do you cook the mushrooms and spinach first or just put them in raw? And how long do you bake them for? Would love to try them for dinner when DP isn't here!

TheMagnificientFour · 14/04/2015 14:23

Of course, there are things that they will never like

But that doen't mean that if they have tried once and din't like it, then they never will.
That's the issue I have with giving the dcs only 'safe' foods that you know they will enjoy. How on earth will they learn to like or love other foods? How do you broaden their horizon food wise?

fwiw, when I met DH his diet was relatively restrciced to very basic stuff. Think curry and a roast with steamed or roasted vegs.
Now he eats all sorts, incl things he had he had decided were 'bad' (read unusual and I didn't like them the first time I tried).
Then he ended up travelling for work for Asia, eating 'weird' stuff and got compliment from all his customers for eating so many of the 'local' foods.

I really think that teaching our dcs to try new foods and maybe eating some stuff that they might not been keen on (but don't hate) is a good skill to have tbh.

Nabootique · 14/04/2015 14:25

Mine says she doesn't like spinach, but will eat it, so she'd definitely eat those as she loves cheese and mushroom. I never offer her a choice. I know that there are a couple of things that she genuinely doesn't like and never has, and I avoid those. Otherwise she tries to get out of eating things sometimes but it's all just trying to be awkward, and she will eventually eat what is put in front of her. Good eater generally.

MummyLuce · 14/04/2015 14:29

It's mushrooms, spinach and cheese. These are just normal, everyday foods, and your DCs are pretty old. I would be kind of pissed off if my kids wouldn't eat that!

BertieBotts · 14/04/2015 14:30

Lol Stinkers. Hilarious use of the future tense there.

Iamblossom · 14/04/2015 14:32

mine would eat it except for the mushrooms.

duplodon · 14/04/2015 14:33

I have three and the younger two love anything green and leafy, had feta and spinach omelette with salad for lunch. The older one (5) would literally go on hunger strike. I was always of the opinion you should serve the same for everyone but ds1's diet is classic sensory restricted - only white/brown, only crunchy/plain - and it isn't fair or healthy for the rest of us. I don't think he's got ASD as he's too sociable but he is very like I was as a child, and I grew out of it with patience and acceptance.

Notso · 14/04/2015 14:33

My familiy were the other way Stinkersmum we never had to eat anything we didn't like but we did always have to sit nicely at the table with good manners and no complaining.
My Mum didn't have to eat anything she didn't like either because her Mum was made to eat everything as a child even if it made her sick (which it regularly did) and she vowed never to do that to her children. She had serious food issues as an adult.

DH comes from an eat everything family, all his siblings are incredibly fussy adults though so I don't think it did them much good.

I tend to only serve one dish but have lots of elements to it so everyone likes something.

Stinkersmum · 14/04/2015 14:33

MummyLuce exactly. It's hardly exotic ingredients is it?

Whatsthatnoise · 14/04/2015 14:34

dd would eat spinach, cheese (if it's orange) and mushrooms but she doesn't like pancakes

Notso · 14/04/2015 14:34

BertieBotts

Hakluyt · 14/04/2015 14:35

If there is an ingredient they have tried and really don't like then I wouldn't serve it, , but otherwise I would expect 13 and 12 to eat what was put in front of them. Slightly more leeway for 8.

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