"How do you know you don't like it when you haven't even tried it?"
These are literally the words we use every meal time when we attempt to put vegetables onto our eldest daughter's plate. She is six years old and although during the weaning process she would eat every type of vegetable under then sun, she will now not eat a single one unless it is SO heavily disguised (i.e. in a soup) and if we give her any, she dismisses them completely out of hand without even tasting them.
"NO! I don't like them."
"But you haven't even tasted them. How can you possibly know?!"
There are debates, attempts at reasoning, usually a good argument and a few tears when we finally get to the "if you don't even try it, you don't get anything else."
Meanwhile Harriet, her 4 year-old sister, sits across from Penny at the table (smug as you like) eating everything we give her, except anything she genuinely doesn't like, and will taste anything new too and it takes all our self control not to say "Look! Your sister's eating it, why can't you?"
Although this might not be the case with everyone, we do think that some of this has a little to do with how they were weaned. Penny was weaned the "traditional" way, with puréed fruits and vegetables from six months. She liked everything we gave her, but when the time came to introduce texture, that's when it all started to go a little bit awry. She gradually became more and more picky.
Whereas with her sister we chose to go with baby led weaning so she was happy with texture from the start and has never had a problem with chewy asparagus or bitty broccoli or stringy celery.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Whilst in a bookshop I found THIS book. I read the introduction (which is essentially the same as this blog post from Charlotte Hume's blog) and I remember standing in shock because up until that point I hadn't found anyone who had a child who was as stubborn with vegetables as Penny. Needless to say I bought the book!
Penny and I have now talked about this and I told her the premise of the book and what I'm planning to do. She sounded excited and wants to help with the blog too!
And most importantly, she made me a promise that she would TRY everything we make. Even if she doesn't like it after she tries it.
Fingers crossed then!
From Benjamin:
ReplyDeleteLet’s be honest, vegetables are not the nicest of foods but they are massively important for a young child’s growing body.
I would try roasting them, BBQing them, deep frying them and any other way other then boiling them. I think there is the problem ‘boiling’. Who likes anything boiled? Yuk!
Try to involve her in the cooking and even better grow some together and let her collect and cook them.
Try to make it fun as McDonald’s is, veg is not.
Good luck guys, I’ll be keeping tabs.
Benjamin. ������������������������������������
Hi Ben! We’ve grown our own vegetables, she cooks with us all the time but never partakes, she chooses the vegetables we will have with our meal and then proceeds not to eat them! We’ve steamed, roasted, barbecued and all sorts… we have literally tried everything you’ve suggested, but this time she does seem excited by the prospect of making it a project (i.e. the blog) so maybe that will help!
DeleteThanks for your comment! 🙂 Emma x
From Karen:
ReplyDeleteGo for it Penny you might surprise yourself. You may not think so now but when you get older you will be saying to yourself ” I wish I had eaten my veggies ” I will keep watching to see how you get on x x
Thank you very much. from Penny.xxxx
DeleteFrom Ashley:
ReplyDeleteHi, Penny!
I know it sounds weird, but I actually would rather have veggies than any other food. I even like weird ones like Brussels sprouts and turnips! I’m excited to hear about your adventures with new vegetables. I bet you find at least a few that you’ll like. 🙂
Cabbages, tomatoos, whatever vegetables there are, I will try them. Thank you. from Penny. xxxx
DeleteFrom Lucy:
ReplyDeleteHi Penny
My Ben didn’t use to like vegetables, but like you he loved them as a baby, then suddenly decided he didn’t like them anymore. He eats some now, not all of them but quite a few. He realised that they help other foods on his plate taste yummy and help him stay healthy.
The important thing to remember is you might not like everything you try but if you don’t give any a go you might be missing out on some things that you actually find really yummy!
Remember if you give vegetables a try you’ll be so pleased with yourself and make lots of people really happy and proud of you and you might find a new favourite food to have for your tea!
Good Luck and keep telling us how you are doing.
Lucy
I hope I will make people happy and try eating helthy food. I hope helthy food is yummy! from Penny. xxxx
DeleteFrom Millsy:
ReplyDeletePenny you are going to have so much fun trying lots of different things, you might even end up really liking something you did not think you would. I hope you find some really tasty veggies that you are happy eating. You’ll be able to look at recipes and choose what to cook which is always fun.
I will enjoy having fun trying new things. I like cooking lots of stuff I would like. Thank you from penny. xxxx.
DeleteFrom Jo Clarke:
ReplyDeleteGood luck!! I too have tried both ways of weaning but don’t think it’s made any difference. I’ve got a 14 year old who loves all kinds of veg but won’t touch fruit, a 12 year old who’s the opposite and a 3 year old somewhere in the middle!!! A balance of everything and a little bit of what you fancy does you good that’s my theory!! Once she’s aware of how what she eats affects how she looks she’ll be much more willing I promise!!!
Yeah, I think that’s definitely true, but I don’t think we can go much longer with her not touching a single vegetable (or fruit either actually, but baby steps!)
DeleteHer current diet is just “beige food” – which is mostly carbohydrate or junk – and it’s so unhealthy. We need to introduce some colour in there and then, like you said, a little bit of what she fancies.
Thank you so much for your support 🙂 Emma x