Though I won’t go into it in great detail on the blog, I have a child who is falls squarely under the ‘Picky Eater’ umbrella. It means that every meal is a challenge. It means that every ingredient is scrutinized. And it means that one momma chef is a little weary a lot of nights.
When Ollie joined our family, I was determined not to have another selective child who gave me a run for my culinary money. And though I introduced him to a variety of different foods, I knew there was no guarantee he wouldn’t follow in the steps of a certain non-eating sibling. There seems to be something about genetic hardwiring that even a control-freak mom like me can’t control.
But I have a secret weapon. And his name is Hammy. He’s the little pig that reminds my kids to have manners at meal time or get stuck doing the dinner dishes. And now he is waging the war against picky eaters.
About three weeks ago our incessant “What does the piggy say” finally paid off when Ollie started making a snorting noise and pointing at Hammy whenever he was seated in his high chair. I would bring Hammy out to watch Ollie eat. That quickly turned into ‘pretend feeding’ Hammy to get a chuckle out of my baby boy. And then the magic began.
The first time I ‘fed’ Hammy, Ollie’s mouth immediately opened wide as if to say, “I’ll take what he’s having!”. Now, any time I ‘feed’ Hammy, Ollie wants a bite too.
So Hammy is becoming a regular fixture at breakfast, lunch and dinner these days. He’s spattered with all kinds of food muck – I swear, he’s such a pig! But I don’t mind. Because my little guy is coming away from each meal with a full tummy having tried everything the pig ‘ate’.
Take that, picky eaters!
5 comments:
How awesome! We have picky eaters in our family, too, although one of them is my husband. He and Laura are a bit too selective. I'm definitely not, and now Owen is on my side.
What a great idea!! We are fortunate in that Benny eats EVERYTHING (well, except lima beans). But I know lots of people who struggle with picky eating by their kids! Great idea!
When confronted with my picky eaters, I just keep going back to Top Chef a few seasons ago. I forget the winner's name. But here's what I remember about him: his mother revealed that as a child, he was a very, very picky eater.
But Hammy is a fun and clearly effective strategy in the mean time.
Owlet is one cute piglet. Hopefully Hammy will continue to inspire to try it all and hopefully like most of it.
That is genius! I will have to keep this in mind if my littlest ever shows signs of not eating at will. I wish I believed it would work on my two year old...
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