MOPS Moms know their stuff
About a million years ago, I went to a MOPS meeting and brought out a little nugget of information from the hours of listening to lovely speakers come one after another and share snippets of wisdom with us from different walks of life. This was what I came away with and have waited a million years to see the fruition of. It takes twelve tastes of any new food to acquire a taste for that food. Not wanting to be a tyrant at the dinner table, I have tried not to insist that my kids eat anything in it's entirety if they can hardly bear the sight of it-- things like steamed squash or canned greens. However, I have practiced the one bite rule for all these years. I can't guarantee that it takes exactly twelve times, but this theory works. It does!
I love to make beans. Initially I started out making them because they were cheap and supposedly good for you. As the years pass, I appreciate more than the cost effectiveness and the health benefits- they are super easy and there are simple ways to change the taste and still make them yummy. The kids have never been fans. I remember eating Navy beans with ketchup on them as a kid because I was never a fan either. Since the kids weren't getting much sustenance from their taste of beans, I always accompanied them with cornbread, which they quickly came to appreciate.
Today I made beans and four out of five of my kids ate them up with no complaints- three of the four raved about how delicious they were and how they were moving up the *favorite foods* list. This thrilled me not only because that moves this entree into the staples list, but also it's still one of the cheapest meals on the menu. And I really like them.
So for all of you suffering with the picky-eater's-syndrome, hang in there, make them taste everything and you'll be shocked when the tables turn and your kid is eating everything on the table. I hope. This has worked for me. Bear in mind, however, that I have endured years of complaints at the dinner table before arriving at this place of gratification. And tomorrow it may backfire on me when someone brings in the phone as a humble offering to call the pizza delivery guy; let's hope not.
**ASIDE: The kids are in the next room watching a movie- all five piled in about a 9x9ft space in front of the TV. Micah starts Leila singing, "NA-NA-NA-NA So good to me..." this worship song they sing in children's church. She can only sing the na-na's, but she belts them out with him when he gets to that part. Well, the commercials have ended and she's still na-na-na'ing away and Kennedy says, "Lolly, I like your singing, but can you please be QUIET?" So sweet. I really need to figure out how to hook our video camera up to the computer so I can unveil some of the circus acts that we get here on a daily basis. They can be quite entertaining.
I love to make beans. Initially I started out making them because they were cheap and supposedly good for you. As the years pass, I appreciate more than the cost effectiveness and the health benefits- they are super easy and there are simple ways to change the taste and still make them yummy. The kids have never been fans. I remember eating Navy beans with ketchup on them as a kid because I was never a fan either. Since the kids weren't getting much sustenance from their taste of beans, I always accompanied them with cornbread, which they quickly came to appreciate.
Today I made beans and four out of five of my kids ate them up with no complaints- three of the four raved about how delicious they were and how they were moving up the *favorite foods* list. This thrilled me not only because that moves this entree into the staples list, but also it's still one of the cheapest meals on the menu. And I really like them.
So for all of you suffering with the picky-eater's-syndrome, hang in there, make them taste everything and you'll be shocked when the tables turn and your kid is eating everything on the table. I hope. This has worked for me. Bear in mind, however, that I have endured years of complaints at the dinner table before arriving at this place of gratification. And tomorrow it may backfire on me when someone brings in the phone as a humble offering to call the pizza delivery guy; let's hope not.
**ASIDE: The kids are in the next room watching a movie- all five piled in about a 9x9ft space in front of the TV. Micah starts Leila singing, "NA-NA-NA-NA So good to me..." this worship song they sing in children's church. She can only sing the na-na's, but she belts them out with him when he gets to that part. Well, the commercials have ended and she's still na-na-na'ing away and Kennedy says, "Lolly, I like your singing, but can you please be QUIET?" So sweet. I really need to figure out how to hook our video camera up to the computer so I can unveil some of the circus acts that we get here on a daily basis. They can be quite entertaining.
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