The Picky eater and The Not So Picky Eaters

It always amazes me just how different my three children can be, it’s oh so obvious at dinner time. My youngest is the pickiest eater alive and for the first four years of his life he would occasionally try new foods while other times he would go 4-5 nights without diner because he was that stubborn to even try dinner. My older two kids always impress me, it makes me proud at how they handle the food situations.

You see, sometimes we are broke so all we have for food is pasta, sauce and maybe a veggie of some sort. There was one time we had egg noodles and peas for dinner, because that is all we had to eat. There are other times where ramon noodles are our only option for dinner or a sandwich. If we go long periods like that, I feel like I am failing, but short term it doesn’t bother me so much. I was a single Mom for the first few years of my daughter’s life so I was used to having little to no food at times. My daughter was used to it as well. Even while the boys were growing up we would go without great food options due to low funds.

I feel that the two older kids are better at saying “I don’t really care for this but I will eat it” because they have lived longer, are more mature than the little guy and that they realize Mom does her best to provide, which means sometimes I offer all I can offer. Nothing makes me more proud than when I hear my older two kids tell me it’s okay I will eat this food, even though I don’t really care for it. This shows me that I have taught my older two kids to be thankful for what they do have and that they do have something. I often remind my kids that there are families who literally have no food, so for us to have any food is something to cherish.

I am still at a loss as to how to get my youngest to try more foods and eat more nutritiously like the rest of us usually do. My youngest is extremely high strung, the pediatrician said ADHD but I feel ADHD is a diagnosis that is tossed out too freely. While I agree, my youngest appears to be ADHD more often than not, he usually can go grocery shopping, go to the library events and even attend school just fine, to me that isn’t ADHD.  His Dad and I are in agreement that we refuse to medicate our youngest unless his hyperactivity makes it impossible for him to function in society as expected. To us, he is a normal five year old and while the pediatrician says ADHD he also said that the youngest is a normal five year old boy.

One way I can think of to get this picky eater more nutrition is to make smoothies and sneak same color veggies into foods he will eat. The pediatrician agreed that is probably the best way to deal with this picky eater for now, because while he can prescribe vitamins, they wouldn’t be as great for his body as getting those nutrients in variety of foods would.

So … as school is in session for all three children I am working more and gearing up to ensure we don’t have to go long periods without food, leaving me with more options to sneak in those healthy things my youngest needs.

What are some ways you have snuck good foods into your child’s diet?