Hands up who has a picky eater.
I certainly do. We have daily battles over broccoli with the inevitable compromise of chicken nuggets – every meal is an epic showdown.
My first-born is a beige eater. The closest he comes to fruit is eating sultanas, which I understand aren't actually good for you anyway, and the only veggies he eats are potato, but mostly in chip form with only a recent fondness to mashed potato, sans the black stuff – 'pepper'.
When he started to refuse most food at around age one, I thought I had stuffed up. Given him too much choice, caved in too quickly. But then I had my daughter, who we call the human garbage bin. She eats everything. She absolutely loves mustard. Will lick it off her plate. She eats most things, however, puts on a performance every now and then just because she can.
Then I had my third child and his favourite thing to eat IS broccoli. Who'd of thunk it?!
After considering myself a failure, yet again, at parenting, I realise that food aversions must just be part of a child's personality. I HATE mushrooms – I'll eat them if I have to be civil but I'd like nothing more than to spit them into my napkin at restaurants. Yuk! We all have things that we love and hate and surely maturity will set in and the desire to eat healthy because of how it makes your body feel will kick in, right?
But for now, it's a battle of wills, complete with dramatic declarations, impassioned pleas and sometimes even bribery. Although, I'll give myself a little pat on the back. I don't cook my kids their own meals. They eat what we eat, even if they choose to just eat the meatballs or pasta. And we don't have dessert or snacks after dinner. Call me a superhero parent.
