This post reminds me of one of my favorite stories about my grandpa. My mom did not even realize until she was an adult with a family of her own, that her father did not like broccoli. When she was growing up with her sisters and brother, my grandpa would always take a serving of broccoli and eat it with a smile and tell my grandma how delicious it was. It wasn’t until, as an adult, my mom had them over for dinner and made her dad’s “favorite” vegetable, broccoli, that he told her, “No thank you, I actually don’t care for it much.” How cool is that?

My husband has really taken that story to heart. He had terrible digestive issues as a child and had to be put on a special, bland diet for his first 4 years of life. Then his mom coddled him for the rest of his childhood and he turned out to be a very picky eater (by his own admission). When we started having kids, he really stepped up to the plate and he will pretty much eat anything I put in front of him. I am so proud of him and proud of my grandpa for the wonderful example he set for all of us who have come after him.

Thanks for sharing this post! I really enjoyed it.

Kimbrah

I liked your post so much I had to ramble on more about it. If anyone is interested you can see it here.

We have a rule in our family, no exceptions–we never cook separate meals for the kids. We have a family meal (and we eat just about everything under the sun!), not a nutritious adult dinner with nuggets or hot dogs or noodles for the kids. Quite a few of our friends do this regularly; they claim their kids “won’t eat anything” unless they get standard kiddie meals, which are often lacking in nutrition and are really just stomach fillers. Interesting how when their kids are eating at our house their dinners get eaten! Another downside to cooking separate meals is that the kiddie dinners are often done first, so the children don’t eat with their parents. All the pleasures of a family meal are then not experienced.

Food allergies are usually pretty recognizable, and they don’t run in my family. I certainly encourage people who have them to investigate if their kid avoids the same food over and over, or if they seem to be losing weight rapidly.

But most children (and adults) don’t have medical conditions to explain away their pickiness, and I’m frankly willing to risk that the kids will want to discuss me making them eat kale in therapy later – as long as I don’t have to pay for it . Nobody is being forced to do anything, or being starved permanently. But being told “if you are hungry, you’ll eat the rice” really isn’t one of the deeper childhood traumas, IMHO.

If it is, to be sure I’ll hear about it later .

Sharon

A good alternative is to offer one simple (not cooked) option if your child won’t eat any dinner. For example, bread, or crackers, or yogurt, etc. Your child will likely start branching out once they get sick of their alternative.

I was very picky as a child, and only found out later in life that I have a very severe mustard allergy. So all those things I hated–salads, sandwiches, mayo, and many others–I enjoy now, if I make them myself with no mustard! If I had been forced all those years it could have had very serious consequences.

Kate (KateS781@yahoo.com)

I really enjoy reading your thoughtful blog.

This is a completely off-topic comment, but I wanted to suggest that you dedicate one of your future posts to financial questions in light of simple living, environmental consciousness and the prospect of a peak oil world. Questions like: what to do with one’s saved money? investments? thoughts on the security not just of the stock market, but of money held in banks and retirement accounts? thoughts on how young people can best prepare for the future, even if they’re not at a point yet where they can buy land (e.g. not enough money saved, still in grad school and not sure where next job will be)?

Thank you.

I have wandered through your blog for some months and I really enjoyed this post. It reminded me of one of the duties I owe to my children (Keryann 5, and Eliott 2).

Please, will you allow me to translate it in french and post it on the french peak oil forum http://forums.oleocene.org/ ?

I’ve always been happy that I’ve been raised to not be a picky eater. My paternal grandmother was kind of a wonder-bread-and-bologna cook, and now (squashy) white bread is not allowed to enter my parents’ house.

There are still things I don’t like. My immersion blender will get a workout with our winter CSA share, because I really don’t like the texture of winter squash.

And one reason I don’t really eat land meat is that I can’t get over the “ick” reflex to eating odd bits of animal. It seems disrespectful to eat hamburger if I wouldn’t eat other bits of the cow (especially given the theoretical situation where I would be either raising it or purchasing it directly from the farmer in units of a significant fraction of a cow). Eggplant, on the other hand, is completely tasty. Bits of it are *inedible*, but that’s different. Same thing with clams.

I don’t think the death rate explains increase in the incident of autism, but I think it addresses some other issues. After all, until there were shunts, no one ever tried to raise a child like my younger (haha). I also have to confess that I devide the world into pre-and post 1500, and don’t alway think about the differences between 1500 and 2007.

Because if the c. dif. there are lots of food don’t eat. Some, such as red meat, aren’t, IMO, a great loss. Others such as coffee were morned. Some, such as peppers and tomatos are so easy to grow that I’m really sorry about not being able to eat them. (Well, I can eat them — then I end up in the ED, or, and I don’t want to sound dramatic here, but one day, when treatment isn’t available, I’ll end up messily dead.) Anyway, I try to still serve them so that dds won’t avoid them.

MEA