When do children really start to eat the same as you?

[Em32]

Getting a bit bored of doing special meals for my ds who is 2 in February. His diet isn't bad but I'd like to include him in family meals a bit more (although this is tricky as I don't eat meat) - any suggestions for what goes down well? When do they start eating properly with the rest of the family - at least most of the time? Dd is going to need weaning in the next couple of months so don't want to be doing ridiculous amounts of cooking.

I do kids food for the dds

and grown up food for us

so yesterday that was chicken drumsticks, new potatoes, broccoli and peas for the dds

and super spicy curry for dh and I

but we all eat some things: shepherds pie, roast, minestrone soup, spaghetti bolognaise, fish and chips

dh and I like spicy, asiany, middle eastern food which the dds prob wouldnt like so much

From what I know, children start out very open-minded about food, and then at some point, they are put off by the unfamiliar. So DS2 will happily try whatever's in front of him, but DS1 doesn't like new things, and needs some coaxing.

When this window closes, sometimes they even lose the habit of eating some of the food they used to like, if they don't get offered it for a while.

But if you keep offering foods, they may come around - last night, DS1 put his nose up at a new pasta dish, but then after a few spoonfuls decided he liked it, and ate all he was served! This was a first, and we were all very pleased.

(All this is what children tend to do. I'm not saying, "if you have a fussy eater, it's your fault because you didn't do X, Y or Z". Maybe those things didn't work for you and your child.)

"At any rate, I agree with offering the same food to all, from the start - DS2 has been eating our food, not mashed up, from the beginning, with no problem."

I'd wager that you'd be less in favour of this if you had offered the same food from the start,kept it up for 18 months or more, but they still refused to eat it

Oh, and DS1 doesn't like spicy food, but DS2 does - often things that are a bit too spicy for me (but I'm a wimp).

I wouldn't serve something very spicy as the only option to them both. But they do often like middle-eastern food.

my bin eats very well

So do my chickens!

lol

Oh, the other thing we've done recently that I think has helped DS1 be more open minded is a complete ban on whinging and moaning at the table. He must try everything he is served, and have a few spoonsful. He may not whinge about it. No "eww". No "I don't like this" before he's tried it.

Any of that behaviour gets him sent away from the table, no food, no dessert, no toast, no nothing. (We did it once.)

He is allowed to not like things. He just doesn't eat more than the trial spoonsful. I only serve him small portions of anything he's not guaranteed to love, so he's not overwhelmed. He can always ask for more.

This has made our mealtimes a lot more pleasant for everyone. And I think it's got him eating better.

Well hmc I am lucky that I have two good eaters (with ups and downs but thats to be expected). They have eaten the same as us since before they were one although our food is possibly tailored to their needs to an extent - probably in being more healthy really. BUT the best thing about them eating the same as us is that if they each decide to be a PITA and refuse to eat their meal I haven't slaved over something special for them and generally DH and I will have enjoyed the effort I have gone to.

DD is 18 months and although she eats most things she is presented with some of her favourites are a roast dinner, mushroom and parmesan risotto, shepherd's pie and veg (she's quite keen on roasted swede, think because it is sweet), sausages and mash, cauliflower cheese, meatloaf with wedges and veg.

DD is only 20 months and she does often push food away if it is new to her.
We often (horrid people we are) ignore her and leave her to faff around and I'd say 80% of the time she will start to pick and then end up eating most of it anyway.

We had to do that with DS a few months ago nqc. He was devastated when DH threw his meal in the bin, in floods of tears. I think often, however good an eater they seem to be they go through this phase.

Ds has been a very picky eater from the start. We have tried everything and it is just his nature. I do offer him a bite of whatever we are having, but we also have things like fish sticks, chicken nuggets, spaghetti and ravioli handy so that if he rejects all or most of what is offered outright I can pop a substitute in the microwave. I just don't believe in telling him "eat it or go hungry". I certainly wouldn't respond well to an environment like that. And, I really think that certain foods are an acquired taste. I didn't eat things like greens and brussel sprouts until I was an adult!

I remember (hobby horse alert) a pal of my mum's talking about some special meal they had done fora celebration, they did baked salmon and potatoes and veg, then chicken nuggest and chips for the (grand)children! grrrrrr
They were big children as well, I mean not 1 yos, they were 7-6-4-3 etc. why do they have to have separate food????
Ok I'll go away and calm down now.

I think they find out they can get a lot of attention and entertainment at mealtime by acting up. And it takes a while for parents to realise what sort of silly behaviour they've got themselves into.

how old are your children nqc?

I agree it's not a cure all for fussy eaters but I don't think it worsens the problem either (DS1 has AS eating patterns after all) and I do believe in making food as little an issue as possible. I'd rather cook something Sam will eat for all of us than let him think he can get what he wants and attention too by kicking up a stink. Dinner times are sacred, and should be as stress free as possible. To this end I cook for DH and I maybe once or twice a week and we get all our spicy needs then.

Clary, agreed- and why is it that whilst we proclaim them to be our precious babies, kids meals are often junk we wouldn't dream of touching? Makes no sense

OO, DS1 is 4, DS2 is 14 months.

DS1 does have his fussy moments - at other people's houses, he will often refuse to eat what is offered, if it's not familiar. And despite my best efforts, he's still not mad for cabbage. But he will eat small amounts of it.

from the age of 8 mths - same as us - but everything was pureed but since she turned 1 (a month ago) everything is not pureed anymore.

I agree with those who say it really dependsaged 1 eats absolutely anything, if she doesn't particularly like it she turns her nose up a bit sniffily and eats it politely anyway, like a polite adult would.

dd2 age 4 still doesn't really eat what I consider normal adult meals. dd1 age 5 does but wouldn't as a toddler. neither of the older 2 like curry and spicy food despite that being generally what I choose to cook, and regularly fed them as babies.

don't know what happened there. it was supposed to say, it really depends on the child. dd3 aged 1 eats anything.....

let's be honest, most of us on this thread who serve up the same food for lo's and ourselves (eat same family meal), - and that is me included - have had to compromise our palates. Not much evidence in the family meals listed of anything more exotic than bolognese. Whereas I would like to cook salmon wrapped in pancetta with pesto mash etc

What I mean is that you have to 'dumb down' your family meals quite often to make them acceptable to littlies

Um, DS1's favourite foods are:

• mussels in any form
• Nigel Slater's sausage pasta (sausage, cream, basil, mustard, chilli)
• cold marinated octopus

We eat some nursery-ish food (lots of pasta with ratatouille etc), but lots of stir-fry stuff with spices and so on.

I only really learned to cook since DS1 started eating solids, so I can't say that I've altered my tastes exactly, but I'm pretty sure DS1 would love salmon wrapped in pancetta with pesto mash.