About a year ago I tried feeding the kids some fish sticks. They rejected the food as soon as the word fish was mentioned. A few days ago I told them I had a surprise for lunch. I cooked the fish sticks and said they were nuggets, like chicken nuggets. They ate every morsel.
I felt a little sneaky and did a little self-evaluating. I'm realizing I use this trick/method a lot to get the kids to eat things I think they wouldn't otherwise. For instance, Quiche is Egg Pie and I slip some spinach in there. Smoothies frozen then partially thawed are slushies, and always have veggies in there too. Zucchini muffins are zucchini cup cakes.
Should I feel bad about this? Down the road are the kids going to refuse to try anything that doesn't fall under the cake or pie or nugget category? This is my mothering dilemma of the moment- there are so many.
10 comments:
Don't feel bad -- you're expanding their taste horizons and someday they'll be doing it without the need for tricky names. We have eaten a lot of chicken (i.e. beef, fish, ostrich, alpaca, rabbit, duck etc.) in our house and that's a-ok!
nope, as long as they are eating it, it's all good in the hood. that is my thought. if they start to like the taste then they will eat it when they are older right? maybe?
So so many! I have done the same thing in the past. The cool thing is that after you are sure they like them a few times then you can start telling them that they like fish cause they liked the "nuggets" and those are fish. I think it's important for them to know that healthy things taste good too. But your kids are so little, just keep it up mamma, you are so great at this mom thing, I am glad I am not the only one with these dilemmas
awesome. i love creative thinking. no worries--it will make for great stories when they are bigger.
i made your kool-aid playdoh last week--super easy and smells delish. thanks!!
ps what kind of veggies do you pass off in smoothies?
oh the things mothers worry about! i can't wait. you're not really lying. they are nuggets, just not of chicken. quiche IS egg pie, there's a crust and everything. i think you can give yourself a pass on this one jill. i'm sure you will have many more dilemmas ahead of you that will make this one seem like a dream.
ps. we have birthday presents for both kids sitting on our table. in true ben and mel fashion they will be sent out no where near either taj or eden's birthdays.
I agree. This is completely okay.
This is way different than saying, "What are you talking about?" when your kid asks you why their 2% milk tastes especially un-creamy today. Substituting crappy yucky food for yummy food is not okay-- calling yummy food something more appealing is perfectly fine.
I wish Amaya would fall for the same tricks. If I put an edible thing in front of her, she is immediately suspicious. And she will find the tiniest piece of vegetable in the huge bite I gave her, dig it out, and put it on her plate. My new plan is to leave vegetables littered in the corners of the house and pretend they are dust or paint chips and that she should spit them out. Then she will immediately swallow them.
yep- i do the same exact thing and wonder the same exact thing too! chocolate protein shakes are just ice cream or shakes to ambrose and any form of a potato is a french fry and dried apples are apple chips.... oh well, at least they are eating healthy right?
Genius. I will use the same thing on my children...when and if I get to have some ;p
Hey we were just thinking about how we spent Halloween with you guys last year, and that creepy neighbor dude by Micah's parents house. He freaked me and Taj out.
Let's all go play soon...
jill! i put up some very awkward pictures of my family on my blog and i couldnt help but think of your AWESOME awkward family blog post when i first heard about the awkward family photos blog. anyway, hope you enjoy!
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