The picture above was shared by a TEAM member whose daughter loves getting inspiring ideas from children’s cookbooks at the public library.
This blog’s question comes from my own son, Henry.
Henry (while looking over my shoulder at Facebook): Hey Mommy, what video are you watching on your computer? That looks yummy! Can we watch that video again? Can you make THAT for dinner?
I have covered picky eating in the past and given tips for how to decrease dinner-time battles. But what if your kids are really not all that picky – your family is just stuck in a major dinner rut? What if you, and even your kids, are just tired of the same 5 fruits, 5 vegetables, and 5 dinners, over and over and over again? What if you and your kids are somewhat leery of trying new things? Of course no one wants to spend additional time and effort to create a new family meal, only to have NOBODY in the family even touch it. This is where my family has been for the past year or so. BUT, with the help of my son peeking over my shoulder while I cruised Facebook, I have a few tips for building dinner diversity that have worked for my family, and hopefully will work for your family, too!
- Theme and variation: This is one of the hallmarks of “Food Chaining,” which is a program used for severely picky eaters. However, this technique can also be used to add pizzazz to lackluster food menus. Simply take a boring staple, such as toast, pasta, sandwiches, tortillas, or yogurt, and then get creative. Add a new topping, use a new filling, throw in a new “mix-in”. As with most children, give them some choices, and you might be surprised at how adventurous they become once they have some control.
- Play with your food: Make Kabobs with various fruits or vegetables or use cookie cutters to make fun sandwich shapes. I was at a tea party with my daughter, and the tea shop served cucumber sandwiches, of which every single ingredient was not something my daughter would usually touch. However, the tea shop cut the cucumber sandwiches into pretty flower shapes, sprinkled a bit of salt on top, and my daughter thought it was the tastiest thing ever!
- Bring in your kids to help: If kids help cook it, they will be proud of it. If they are proud of it, then they will not only enjoy it more themselves, but insist that every single member of the family eat it, too. Talk about positive peer pressure! Let them stir, mix, peel, etc. And…as an occupational therapist, I have to point out that having your child help in the kitchen leads to valuable lessons in independence… “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” You know the saying!
- Web videos: This is really what started it all for my family. My son happened to be watching over my shoulder as a video from the Facebook profile “Tasty” showed different ways to make penne pasta. My kids LOVE this profile! They will watch the videos over, and over, and over again! Eggplant, spinach, and raw tomatoes have all been eagerly tried and enjoyed at our dinner time. They also love rating each recipe, deciding if we should make it again, and deciding what changes we should make (if any) before making each new recipe again. Web videos and glossy cookbooks work hard to make their recipes look delicious. Forget YOU trying to sell the family on a new recipe, let the experts try to sell it! Then once again, give your children some choice, and they might just surprise you.
- Meal delivery service: This idea is a bit pricy, but it is certainly a good one. I recently was tired of the same old dinners myself, so I subscribed to one of those meal delivery services. You know the ones you see advertised on Facebook, where they send you all of the ingredients, and you make the meal yourself? Though a bit of a luxury, I love these meals for several reasons. First, they come delivered to your home in a huge box, sitting right on your front porch. My children love opening up the box as if it is Christmas morning and guessing what might be inside – maybe something they have never even seen before first-hand. Giant eggplant anyone? In addition, these boxes come with some of those glossy recipe cards, making the “new meal” much more appealing than simply Mom describing it to them. Finally, the whole family is trying a new food or new food combination. Some recipes are winners, some are not. However, I like it when my children get to see ME take a “no thank you bite” of a new food that I traditionally don’t like. AND, sometimes you even find a new combination that you yourself like – this is important for your kiddos to see, too! Last night, I actually ate a raw tomato on my hamburger for the first time ever in a new burger recipe. Even adults can learn to enjoy new foods!
How do you get over the dinner rut in your house? I would love to hear your ideas!
And… are you thinking that the ideas mentioned above would NEVER work for your picky eaters, that they are just too picky? Look forward to an up-comping blog where Connie Clark and Amy smith, Children’s Therapy TEAM Speech-Language Pathologists and Food Chaining extraordinaires, as well as Occupational Therapist Allison Schmitz will offer up some of their tips for what works and what does not work for truly picky eating.
Resources:
Tasty Facebook link
Guide to Picky Eating, by Melissa Foster, Children’s Therapy TEAM Blog
Melissa Foster is a Nationally Board Certified Occupational 
Therapist who received her Masters in Occupational Therapy from University of Central Arkansas in 2004. She came to TEAM in 2013 with a wealth of treatment experience in settings that range from NWA to Kansas to New York. Her primary interests are treatment of children on the Autism Spectrum, treatment of children with ADHD and treatment of children with sensory processing and behavioral disorders. Melissa is an active public speaker in the NWA community on topics related to Autism and Sensory Processing Disorder. She has authored several resource materials for parents on topics such as sleep and picky eating. Her blog for parents addresses a new topic every Monday and has become a popular resource for families. Melissa loves spending time with her husband and their two children. On warm summer days she enjoys sitting on her patio with a good book and a glass of iced tea.
Children’s Therapy TEAM believes that every child who may benefit from therapy should be able to access it… PERIOD. We feel strongly about it. That’s why we offer financial assistance to families at every income level, even those with insurance, if the cost of treatment creates a hardship. Therapy may even be provided at no charge, depending on a family’s level of need. Please don’t hesitate to contact our Family Support TEAM to learn more about options. Every child deserves the best we can give!