Sunday, August 17, 2008

Expanding Palates




I am trying to get my kids to eat a wider range of foods. I have twin eight-year-old boys, who consult with one another before trying new things, and they have quite a limited range of choices. With this month of camp-free-summer left, I'm trying different strategies (heh, heh, heh, heh). None of these are particularly original, but I suppose that may be why they seem to be working. Two ideas that seemed to work today:

1. Take them with me to the Farmer's market.
It's so much easier to leave them at home with dad, but this parenting journey is not for the faint of heart. Or, as I said to my husband before I went into surgery for an ectopic pregnancy (long story, another time), "I'm no shrinking violet."

2. Leave the food out.
My nice clean kitchen now has all the farmer's market produce on display, including things that really should be in the fridge, in the hopes that someone comes along and eats it. So far, A has eaten two carrots and two peaches and M has had a handful of yellow grape tomatoes.

New or nearly new foods eaten today by said eight year olds:
1. Pickles
2. Yellow grape tomatoes
3. Saturn peaches
4. Parsley

OK, baby steps.

2 comments:

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Anonymous said...

I am going to remember your strategy and use it when my twin boys get a bit older (they are almost 2 yrs). They are already showing signs of being picky eaters! We too have a local farmers market, so it should be a fun experiment. Thanks for the post!