To tell my toddler DD fish is chicken?

[SalemSaberhagen]

DD is 21 months old and horribly picky. She will only eat bananas, chicken, pasta, ham chips and bread. Yesterday I made myself some fish and asked if she wanted any. She proclaimed it to be 'yuck, disgusting' and refused to try it. I broke off a few bits and put it on her plate and asked her if she wanted some 'chicken'. She ate it with gusto! I was so pleased.

I posted a light hearted thread about it on a Facebook group (yeah, I know) to say how pleased I was.

In amongst people sharing their own stories, I've been told that I don't respect my DD and I'm undermining her trust. I was asked how she will feel when she finds out.

Was I doing something bad by letting her think it was chicken?! I was just happy she was eating something else to be honest!

Everything meat based was 'ham' in this household until DS cottoned on, he doesn't seem traumatised at all. I also tell him a rotund guy with a beard visits us on Christmas Eve whispers but it's not true whispers, I suspect he'll forgive me!

Mine all hates broccoli and cauliflower but loved "little trees" they also wouldn't eat pancakes unless I dyed them green for a couple of years, and my youngest nephew would eat soup, but not some thing soup, so he would eat anything in soup form unless you told him it was split pea and ham, or chicken or tomato, you do what you do to get by.
As an aside, I once had a 30 year old bloke refuse potato dauphinoise one week but eat "potato bake" the next.

Chicken used to be white ham in this house

at undermining her trust.

I have done much worse than that, any form of lentil, chickpea or other healthy shit are magic beans, and will make you grow as big as a giant. Savoy cabbage is superman cabbage - it's what makes him so strong.

Runner beans make you run fast obviously but we also have Thor parsnips and Iron man kale.

My poor poor undermined dts.

Dont Americans call tuna, chicken of the sea?

Every type of meat in this house is chicken

Same here! Thought I was only one!

i got DS to have brown sauce by saying "some people say it tastes like chocolate" he tried it and agreed.

Also, introduced tarama as "pink hummus" and he enjoyed it, and we then said "Oh this pink hummus has another name..."

etc

i got DS to have brown sauce by saying "some people say it tastes like chocolate" he tried it and agreed.

Also, introduced tarama as "pink hummus" and he enjoyed it, and we then said "Oh this pink hummus has another name..."

etc

i got DS to have brown sauce by saying "some people say it tastes like chocolate" he tried it and agreed.

Also, introduced tarama as "pink hummus" and he enjoyed it, and we then said "Oh this pink hummus has another name..."

etc

Going against the grain here but no, I don't lie to my children and yes I am still annoyed with my mother telling me that tongue was something else when I was a child. Maybe focus on why she doesn't like fish rather than lie to her!

My daughter used to eat grape olive pizza. Wouldn't touch an olive now, but does laugh about it. I am pretty sure she isn't scarred.

My DD likes pasta and 'special ketchup' (pasta sauce).

I think it's fine of course. But I am surprised at the number of people who use this strategy. Surely the children can taste the difference and what they like/dislike is mostly based on taste....no?

I think it's fine of course. But I am surprised at the number of people who use this strategy. Surely the children can taste the difference and what they like/dislike is mostly based on taste..or texture..no? Asides from the odd grumpy day that is.

you would think so Asuitablemum however clearly evidence shows it isn't ..

As they get older they figure it out..I remember my DS saying what kind of chicken is this..answer fish...now he preferred fish to chicken..

Alfresco...I can imagine saying she barley eats any veg except peas..lol

She's 21 months flossie. The most I can get out of her is that 'noooo mummy, fish is yuck disgusting'

Canneleni beans are giants baked beans in this house. You have to eat them up quickly before the giant comes to find them! (A fun game not fear inducing threat I might add)

kids can;t tell the difference between some foods though. As adults you can tell the difference between Heinz ketchup and cheapy runny sauce. Kids just can't do that. to them it;s the same.

Also a lot of the time the child convinces themselves they don't like "x" lets say it's ham. they associate the word with the "dislike". so calling it something else will make them lose the pre-coneption and try it with "new" eyes.

If thye still don't like the "white broccoli" then fine, they don't like cauliflower. but as can be seen here and many other times, kids can't tell the difference. it would be highly unusual for a small child to say "hmmm, this white broccoli tastes just like cauliflower"

asuitablemum ^^

Every meat is 'sausage' in our house. Ham is bacon. Potato waffles are square Windows.

In this case YANBU
But If she was older (7+) I wouldn't do it, But if she doesn't notice, it can't be that bad lol.

Asuitablemum - I think that's a really interesting point but my observation would be that my son liked/didn't like things based on the idea of stuff so if I took the idea away (by saying everything was ham!) then it took away the obstacle to eating it. He doesn't, for example, like cheese (which is a royal PITA by the way) but he loves pizza . I suspect he actually wouldn't really dislike a cheese sandwich but he would never eat one because he's decided in his mind that he doesn't like it. It would be a stretch to convince him that cheese was ham, but chicken, not so much. I bloody love cheese by the way, I sometimes question whether I brought the wrong kid home from the hospital (if he wasn't such a mini-me of his father!)

Yanbu. I tell my DD that most things are chicken. She's 2.5 now and old enough to be bribed (no pudding etc) into eating vegetables so it's getting better.