Try Try and Keep Trying...

[Mommy World]

This ties to my previous article about how Variety is key...

I read somewhere that, a parent should try atleast like 12-15 times, before giving up on a food that the kid wont eat.. ! And once the child is old enough to recognize and know they dont like it, they are never ever going to want to have it again.. So, may be getting them to like everything at a very young age is important.. ?! Just some thoughts..


As I mentioned before, R didnt like spinach..at first..when I gave it to him the first time, second time, but third time was a charm.. and then he started liking it.. The thing that is different about the third time, is the way it was presented to him. It was the spinach pepper chicken curry .. that made him like all the spinach. So, may be trying to present in many different ways is also important whenever we try. If they dont prefer it once, try again in a different way after a couple of weeks, keep trying and never give up.. really :) Especially things like fruits and vegetables... that provide some special vitamins and minerals that are scarce in other foods..

Also, I notice, if I am eating it, he is more interested in eating it than when I am not. Luckily in my house, my husband and I like to try and eat all different kinds of foods, so we try to give R also everything that we are trying to eat..especially if they are healthy. So, We as parents being like a role model in good eating habits is also important.. in addition to other things. My son is motivating me to eat better than I used to before he came into my life. Thats good for all of us.

Update: Asha suggested making it fun looking also helps.. I totally forgot talking about that here. Thanks for mentioning it Asha. That is also key to get them interested.. When R was younger and I was teaching him shapes, I used to cut his wraps into triangles sometimes, and folded them as rectangles sometimes, and he used to get all excited about a triangle wrap and rectangle wrap.. !

Last halloween I got a Superman costume for R, just coz I couldnt find anything else in his size that day.. He was not quite 3 then, but when he wore that, I told him Superman was a superhero that rescues people from bad monsters, he felt proud of being Superman.. ! He got interested in all superheroes from that point on, mostly just Spiderman, Batman and Superman. And during that period of time, he had also watched the animated movie "Hanuman" that my mom had sent from India. I told him Hanuman was also a Superhero.. that rescued people and animals.. And all this superhero rescuing thing really got into his mind. He always talks about how he will be a superhero and rescue everyone from the monsters etc., etc., Its really cute.. ! OK..But if you are wondering why I was talking about the Superhero episode here, it really helped me in getting him to try and eat way more things, without any special gimmicks. I told him, to be strong like the superheroes he needs a lot of energy and for that he needs to eat everything.. And whatever mum gives him. I repeated that for a few weeks whenever he is eating and he seems to get it... :)

Thank you Superheroes.. !!

For some reason now, R is not that fond of water melon.. He eats almost all other fruits.. and water melon is so juicy and delicious, I wonder why he doesnt like it.. !! I tried about 3-4 times so far.. with not much luck.. Gave him as diced pieces, as a juice, mixed up in a smoothie, but.. nope he didnt want it.. My new plan is to try it again this summer .. after he stays out in the sun for about 30 minutes..and craving for some liquids..I will present him with a delicious cool watermelon slice. May be that will make him eat it.. lets see... I'll keep you posted.. on my progress.. !

Some ideas mentioned here :
Spinach Pepper Chicken

Yummy Healthy Wraps