Fussy Eater - 9 Year old - I need help

[TroubledMum78]

My 9 year old son is super fussy eater, he eats potatoes, breaded chicken, fish products, pasta, pizza, sausages, yorkshire puddings, garlic bread, rice, beans, brocolli but not much else and I am really struggling with him at the moment, I want him to eat more variety and the same meals as us, I am having massive anxiety about school residential trips which are coming up and stressing that he will be hungry when he goes. Its keeping me awake at night. Can someone please offer some advice

Each of my dc have been through a fussy stage (although youngest dd probably still stuck in it tbh) and used different strategies with each of them. With dd1, I got a few family recipe books and sat down with her to go through them and she identified a few recipes she’d be happy to try. I also involved her in the cooking and shopping which seemed to do the trick. With DS, I didn’t really have time to do that and the bigger the deal I made out of it, the worse it seemed to get. So I just got on and cooked family meals that the rest of us would eat, making sure at least some element of the meal could be eaten by DS. I served up his food exactly the same as everyone else and he could pick out what he liked but had to remain at the table until we were all finished and certainly wouldn’t get anything else afterwards. He eventually got tired of going hungry and started eating more. I also realised that perhaps he was having too much for his afternoon snack, so really restricted that to just fruit and milk.

My son eats the same as yours, if you swap smoked mackerel for garlic bread. My DS is 14. He managed fine at the school residential, and just ate what he could from what was offered. You may find that your DS eats things with friends that he won't try at home. Just let him get on with it, and praise any new foods that he tries, however small, and even if he dislikes them.

If there's some magic wand which makes them eat a broader range of food, I haven't found it yet.

My top tip is to try and stop stressing.
School residentials are well versed with the kind of food children will eat. He won't get exactly what he has at home but is unlikely to starve and may even feel able to try new foods as there will be less attention on him.
Children generally become slightly more willing to try new foods as they get older (assuming NT)
Both my DD and my DSD have hugely widened their food choices as they've got older. Equally, nothing I have done has made that happen! It's got to be their choice.
If you want to avoid making multiple meals, then try and make meals either that everyone likes or has an element of pick n mix.
I wouldn't eat a meal I didn't like and I won't make my kids do that either. If you want something they don't, I have a few easy to prepare meals I offer as alternatives - pasta, omelette, that sort of thing.

A fussy child won’t be an unusual thing on a school residential. As for how to increase his range of food, would involving him in the cooking process help? Do you eat with him? If he sees you regularly and eating a wide range of food, that might cause him to broaden his horizons. If he can have access to other food without it being his only meal and going hungry if he doesn’t like it, that takes a lot of pressure off.