Who knew cucumber in a sandwich could cause such trouble

[ibroughtxmascake]

Yesterday I lied to DD about putting cucumber in the sandwich

Basically I can usually get away with it and she eats it all without noticing but yesterday she asked me if I was putting cucumber in I said no but did as I always do (you have to cover it in cream cheese and she never notices) but don't ask me why she decided to open the sandwich and lick it, revealing said cucumber , cue major major meltdown and DP saying I shouldn't lie to her (yes I know I shouldn't)

Anyway since then she has insisted in picking apart every meal looking for cucumber, tonight she refused to eat any dinner and just screamed mummy no cucumber

I've scarred her for life haven't I?

Will she just forget about it? [hopeful]

I wouldn't of done it but is hardly eating anything these days so I have taken to hiding veg in nearly everything

I feel for you
I know what it feels like to have a child...well 2 actually....who dont eat

Hiding veg is something you feel you are doing for her good but I think maybe the cucumber was a bad idea as you had to lie outright to her and really what is there in cucumber that is worth that?

Dont worry though, I'm sure it will pass, yet her pick apart her meals and gain your trust again

How old is she?

2.5

I think, in fact I know that it is the fact that I lied to her that she is upset about and you are right it was only flipping cucumber

I'm really hoping she has forgotten by tomorrow

Oh deary deary me.

I was a faddy eater as a child. Sorry to tell you this but I would have been suspicious for years if I'd discovered a trick like that! As it happens I was grown up before my mother revealed she'd been dyeing chicken soup red and claiming it was tomato (she was just bloody fed up of a child who would only eat 'red soup'). Let's hope your dd is as bloody unobservant as I was, huh?

That red dye trick is genius!

DD will only eat tomato too, may try that

I know this isn't helpful, but if someone I loved hid cucumber in something I was eating I would also have a tantrum.

Am 45 and cannot stand cucumber. Makes me shudder.

Sorry, not what you want to hear ...

But cucumber and cream cheese, come on it's lovely

Not if you are 2.5 though obviously

I am of the opinion that if a child doesn't like something that they leave it on the side of their plate and that I am too busy to be tailoring meals to their fads.
Sorry to be harsh but the only way she will be scarred for life is by being indulged. Certainly don't feel guilty.

ibrought, my mother has a whole litany of tricks like that (cursed with two fussy children despite being a very, very good cook, bless her). Sadly these days putting raw egg in a milkshake would be frowned upon but in the 70s it was the only way the poor woman could get some nutrition into my sister.

The only trick I dare play on DS is when he's really enjoyed something and I say "do you know what was in it.... Mushroom!" and then he laughs and realises mushrooms aren't evil after all. But he's 6, so a bit easier in some respects.

true words carmenere but she didn't have the chance to leave it on the side of her plate as her mum told her it wasn't there
It's not a dire situation but I can understand how the op may feel that it is
Please dont worry and stop lying about her food and you will be bothe be fine

I remember my mum blending stew so we would think it was soup

DP's mum would crush multivits up into powder and put them in his dinner every night

I think you're lucky to have got away with hiding cucumber at all When I eat it in a sandwich it always seems to "fall" out half-bitten and either hang from the sarnie or stick to my lip [attractive]

I am currently trying to invent a way to make peas white so that they hide better in mashed potato

The thing is that the child doesn't actually dislike cucumber as she eats it when she doesn't know it is in the sandwich. And some people have an ability to taste an enzyme in cucumber that makes it revolting to them, she evidently doesn't have that ability as she eats it without detecting it. So this is about power and we can't let our dc's dictate how we feed them.

Ah, enzymes! I always wondered how people could say they don't like cucumber. Sounded very odd to me.

Now, celery, that's another matter...

I wouldn't eat stew, but mum called it 'Hearty Soup' and I would eat it....until my brother got the salt cellar and pretended to put loads and loads of salt on mine and then there was no chance

that is also true carmenere, I agree with you
but there are different ways to not let them dictate how we feed them

She could not lie about the cucumber and then the child wont eat the sandwich and as she gets older she may
or we could emit the cucumber and hope with age her tastes will widen

or the need to control her world so much(which is a normal developmental stage at around this age) will fade and it wont be an issue

but if she continues to lie and get cought out wont it set up problems later

everyone needs to be relaxed to eat

and I can spell caught

ibroughtxmascake - NO! NO! NO! sorry but cucumber and cream cheese is the very work of the devil.

My kids would happily eat it, but I would have to inject myself with some Class A preparation before I could prepare it or serve it up.

Oh I agree TR, the dining table is no place for a battleground, I simply ignore dd's fads and they usually pass.

Trinity, i suppose I worry that if I don't keep on trying her on it or other things her tastes won't widen as she will only end up eating a few things. DP says why do I keep putting the veg on her plate when I know she wont eat it as it is a waste of food. But if I don't keep on trying her is that not like giving up and saying ok just eat apples, bananas, yogurt and some cheese until you ask for something else.

Can you see I am confused

Daphne, you weirdy enzyme person A truly classic combination!

I feel the same but I have decided to go for a very low stress option with dd2 (the opposite of what happened with dd1)

she is 2.8 and has a limited diet because I dont wamt to fight with her at the dinner table

she eats fishcakes, potatos, porridge, apples, satsumas. yoghurt, brocolli, pease, banana, ice cream and jam samndwichs

I serve up other things alongside her things and she sometimes pokes them, sometimes ignores them...sometimes she even picks it up or licks it

I cannot be bothered spending all my time trying to coerce her into eating (as I did with dd1 and I don't think it did any good and maybe a little harm)so I am instead eating heartily infront of her, offering her anything I'm eating with a smile on my face and praying to god that she will expand repetoire once she doesn't feel that she needs to completely control every aspect of her life to feel secure......

I can emphasise as my Mum told me scampi were mini fish fingers when I was about 5yo. One time I got suspicious and took the breadcrumbs off. When I saw the pink embryo-looking thing that I had been eating I thought I would throw up.

I still won't touch scampi.

I like Trinity's approach. My DD was very fussy till she went to kindergarten, two weeks later she was asking for green beans for lunch.

She still does not eat a lot of veg but loves fruit so I am not bothered.