Age and Eating Habits

We have enforced that since day one. I am not a short-order cook. I do not make a meal here, a meal there, or something different for everyone. You eat what is prepared for you...if not, you don't get a treat or you go hungry. As a result, my kids are amazing eaters and very healthy.

I am the oddball answering this one, sorry. I have a 3 yr old and a 15 month old. I don't make them eat anything. But I do expect them to try everything and continue to expand their tastebuds. I have a few reasons, one of them personal. I have food allergies and certain foods I personally can't stand (and never have been able to according to my mom.) I've always been the dreaded picky eater. It isn't fun to be picky, but for me I would rather be hungry than eat certain things. My 3 year old likes many of the foods I won't eat, but he has a few that he refuses (tomatoes being one). If I make a dinner that has one of the foods I know he can't stand like spaghetti, I know he will go away hungry. So, instead of making my child suffer hunger like I did (my parents had the eat what we make policy) I try to make foods he would enjoy too. So, I will make spaghetti and chicken or something. Then he can have chicken and buttered noodles.

Like Joanna K, they ate what we ate from day one.

Can you imagine trying to cook 10 different meals? I cannot.

I have seen kids that dictate to their parents what they will eat or not eat. Not a pretty picture!!! And tremendously disrespectful.

Occasional my older kids would tell my yourger kids that you won't like that. Besides correcting my older kids, I would tell my younger child, Oh Yeah, You won't like that. Its awful stuff. At the same time, I'm taking a bite of it and going uuuMMMM with a smile on my face. Then I would take another bite and tell them, Oh you don't want to eat this. Its awful stuff and I would take another bite and just smile and say uuummmmm! It worked very well about 90% of the time.

In our house, we've had awful stuff ice cream, cherry pie, french fries, fish sticks, milkshakes, broccoli with cheese sauce, trout, shrimp, tacos, enchiladas, fried chicken, steak. Just about anything I could think of. And upon occasion, the kids making the disparaging remarks had to eat the stuff they were telling the younger ones not to eat.

Good luck to you and yours.

My son has always eaten what we eat. Initially single ingredients pureed. Later what we were eating chopped/cut into small enough pieces. He does not have to eat everything but he almost always tries everything and usually eats it. We have never cooked 'kid food'. I have never thought of it as a rule - it's just how we eat - if my husband cooks dinner, wouldn't it be horribly rude if I got up and made myself something different?

I waited until my sons hit 5 years old/kindergarten. Once the kid hit 5, he was expected eat what was served or not eat and go hungry. Until 5, though, I would gently push new foods but always have a back up ready.

I chose 5/kindergarten simply because it was easy to say "If you're big boy enough to go to school, you're big boy enough to eat what everyone else is eating." I also stressed that they could NOT like a food, but they had to have a few bites anyway. Last, I enforced the "no food drama" rule whereby they could not do the whole face contortion thing because, God forbid, they pull that stunt at a friend's house.

Amazingly, it worked. Both my boys have gotten less picky as the years pass and they're very good eaters when they're with friends...no complaining!

Good luck!

Day one, actually. Pureed or chopped up what we ate and made my own baby food for the little one, bigger pieces as they got older to where they eat it the way I serve it to everyone. Much easier that way.

I think the earlier the better. We always offered one alternative. If they didn't want what was for dinner, they could have fruit (apple, banana) or/and yogurt. No cooking involved and it kept them from going hungry.

We've pretty much enforced it from day one. The only difference I make with a little one (under 3) is that I will save the plate and offer it to them again between meals, because they really can't go from meal to meal without something to eat. And, in our house, everyone gets one or two things they just don't like and don't have to eat (mine are tomatoes and corned beef, my son's are asparagus and onions, my husband's are winter squash and cantaloupe.)

If you do not enforce it for the 14 year old then the three year old will probably follow suit. I would stick with it for now.

I started enforcing that rule once the kids were past toddler years. Our rule is if you don't eat, you don't eat until next meal, which is great for my 3 and 5 year old. But since toddlers need a full day of eating to sleep thru the night, I just make sure they eat enough and give them food I know they'll eat. So I guess I started enforcing strictly around age 3.

Send him to Aunt T.'s house!

Our house rule is exactly the opposite:

If you don't like it you can have a sammie or a bowl of cereal BUT you can't be rude about it.

I only cook once. Now, I may make 2 or 3 separate things (like 3 kinds of pasta, or spicy curry and not spicy curry), but once I'm done cooking, I'm done. Cereal is nutritious. And it takes 24.5 seconds to make.

I have a 5 year old and an 18 month old, and my 18 month old has had this rule since he started eating table food.

That said, I am kind about it - I try hard to make sure there is at least one thing served with each meal that each kid likes. So, for example, grilled chicken with green beans is a good meal for us, because the 5 year old likes chicken and the baby likes green beans. I put everything on their plates, but I don't make a big deal as long as they try at least 1 bite of each thing.

The one thing I am a bit 'softer' on than some people is the bedtime snack - I know some people say no snack at all if their child doesn't eat a full dinner but I can't bring myself to send kids to bed on an empty belly. If my kids eat a good dinner (a reasonable amount in general, and at least one try of everything), then they can pick whatever they want for bedtime snack. If they don't eat a good dinner (by my definition), then I pick the snack and I make sure it fills whatever I think they need nutritionally (ie, protein, if all the baby ate was green beans for dinner or a fruit or veggie if all the 5 yr old ate was chicken for dinner).

My kids never got baby food. I pureed foods, but since I never had any baby food jars I had to borrow them to freeze my homemade foods.
At 14 months, if he has teeth, he should eat what is in front of him mashed up.

As soon as my girls started eating "table food" they ate what we ate. They are now 3 and 6 and both pretty much like everthing. I'm not saying that there were not days that they didn't eat much for dinner but it has just never been an option not too. Good luck!!

I'm thinking maybe 2 or 2 1/2. My DD just turned 3 and I think I waited too long to enforce that (probably started about 2 1/2). I'm also wondering when to enforce with my 15 mos old...will be curious to read the responses.

You can do that whenever you want, but I wouldn't recommend it. It's unkind. Better to treat your children as you would a party guest, when it comes to food--make something you think they'll like, and be gracious and accommodating if they don't. Isn't that how you'd like to be treated, if you were hungry and completely at the mercy of a parent?

I never enforce this rule, i try to make food and nutrition a choice and not a chore for them. It has served my family well, but i am a bit of a short order cook. I dont mind though, they eat really well because they believe it is their decision and its not forced. Its a little tricky of me.

I agree with jay...i make them try it once and if they dont like it i make a mental note. I will try to get them to try it again another year, but i never force it.