Non-sequitism

[unixronin]

I hate the feeling of helpless frustration.

Then again, I have gulyás for lunch.

(The gripping hand:  I only have gulyás for lunch because Pirate and Wen once again didn't eat their supper last night.  I worry that they're going to dry up and blow away in the wind.  How do you feed someone who won't eat?!?)

Comments

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

I used to swear that Tigger photosynthesized. Tigger is now 21 (almost 22) and despite being quite thin, is in good health.

Let them jag on what they want at the time. They either like it because their bodies need it, or dislike it because the textures and tastes are bothering them in some way. If they are not hungry, don't make them eat. I really want my kids to avoid the American Super Size disease.

[smandal.livejournal.com]

I think there is some merit in forcefeeding your kids fruits and vegetables.

I was a picky eater until puberty -- then my mom was running her own butcher shop for me and my brother.

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

I am still a picky eater. Some textures and flavors are just too much for me. I was force fed as a child. The trauma of force feeding is something I think is best avoided.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

There are certain things I violently dislike, among them green bell peppers (horribly, horribly bitter)¹ and onion in large pieces². To a lesser extent, green cabbage usually tastes of sulfides, most lettuce and salad greens taste either bitter or of almost nothing at all, and many beans disagree with me, including "black-eyed peas", which are beans, not peas. And while I like chocolate, and I like peanut butter, the mere smell of the two combined can make me nauseous. (I also never "got" the US peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich.)

Other than those, I have a hard time thinking of things I won't eat, though if hungry I'm far, far more likely to go for something savory than something sweet. (Yet I drink my coffee and black teas very heavily sweetened because I find them intolerably bitter otherwise. Green tea, though, I drink unsweetened.)


[1] We have speculated that this is my body warning me to avoid bell peppers in quantity, since my younger sister, who also found green bell peppers horribly bitter, eventually became allergic to them. I tend to avoid other bell peppers too, though less fervently. Red bell pepper, cooked and diced finely, is OK in moderate quantities.

[2] Yet I like pickled onions. Go figure.

[wyrdling.livejournal.com]

well, i used liquid food for awhile (smoothies made with hyper packed nutrient stuffs and enough yummies like ice cream and frozen fruit to make it tasty.)
but, uh, i was dealing with someone who was sick and couldn't eat solid food. don't know what to say about kids- mine thinks apples and bananas are treats he gets once or twice a day. and otherwise i can't keep track of what he wants and doesn't want on a daily basis.
i scavenged a lot from the pantry as a teenager, but, lets just say my mother's cooking wasn't conducive to having an appetite, so that was just as well. (i'll leave it at the fact that she never really figured out food spoilage rules.) i often think i'd be a bit taller if i'd eaten better back then- the rest of my family is giants and i'm just, eh... normal.

so pack the pantry with sneaky good stuff, maybe? or put a bowl on the table, or something.

[fatcook.livejournal.com]

Are they old enough to cook?
They might like eating more if they what was going in to the food. It worked with my brother. Although he still put catsup on everything (still does).

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Are they old enough to cook?

Not really — five and seven. Much of the problem is that both have a marked tendency to take one look at supper and declare they don't like it and won't eat it, without having even tried it (or, on occasion, take one look at the pot and declare they don't like it and won't eat it, without even looking to see what's actually in the pot).

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

Good thing they don't have to eat the pot then, isn't it?

::shrugs:: I surrendered a long time ago. You don't like what's for dinner? Peanut butter and jelly it is! If you're refusing to eat you'll get checked for a fever and possibly sent to bed early.

[ithildae.livejournal.com]

I think that five and seven are old enough to start cooking. I know that is old enough to do meal planning one day a week. We did it, and my sister is doing it with her children that are just those ages. Talents differ by child, but I always set an expectation higher than current performance.

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm starting them baking with me on the weekends. We've got a Lab now.

[fatcook.livejournal.com]

My mom started me about five or six. Real simple stuff like stirring things and measuring (which was carefully checked).
My parents strongly believe in the "try it once rule". That's how I came to like avocados, brussels sprouts and knackwurst. It works very well with my step-son. We've discovered that he will eat almost anything if we cover it in peanut sauce and from that he's grown to like Thai, Chinese, German (but not sauerkraut)and SC style barbecue.
And when all else fails there's PB&J with milk, eventually they will get tired of that and will try what's in the pot.

Good Luck.

[cymrullewes.livejournal.com]

To learn the Zen of making sure things are measured correctly, I have the girls make bread with the bread machine.

Our rule is, If Mom likes to eat it or Dad likes to eat it then you must try at least one bite of it each time (as long as each time is spaced out at least a month.) This works because if there is something that one of us doesn't like then we very rarely have it.

[yndy.livejournal.com]

How do you feed someone who won't eat?!?

If you find the answer to this, please let me know... Getting Kira to eat is a daily battle, and I lose all too often. :(

(((((hug))))))

[bbullock.livejournal.com]

The Victorians had an item called a "pap spoon," which looked much like a modern baby feeding spoon. They were metal, though, with a little hatch to cover the spoon--I've never figured that part out, you would have to flip it back to feed the kid, so... why?--and a hollow handle with an open end.
This was so, I jest not, you could shove the spoon into the yowling little gnome's mouth and blow it in.
Hand to my heart, it's true.
Now, you get a couple really large pap spoons, and...
Okay, that last sentence was a joke, but in all honesty, children that age are almost always picky eaters. They tend to like chicken, cheese pizza, ranch dressing, and a few other odds and ends. Sometimes hot dogs and hamburgers, often french fries.
In any case, child-rearing specialists disagree on what to do. I honestly favor a "you have to try at least one bite," approach, sometimes edging into a "eat it or go hungry" angle.
Some suggest that it's best to make the kids something they'll eat, if that's what it takes, but I don't know if I hold with that. You might try letting them choose the meal once a week or so, with the proviso that they must eat every other meal to retain the privilege.
Ultimately, you just have to experiment, I guess. But it isn't uncommon, and much has been written about handling it.
Incidentally... what the heck is a "gulyás?"

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Incidentally... what the heck is a "gulyás?"

It's the Hungarian national dish, which you probably know better by its Anglicized approximation, 'goulash'.

[bbwoof.livejournal.com]

How do you feed someone who won't eat?!?

As a strictly practical matter, you eventually feed them intravenously. But please don't let it get to that point!

I was never a picky eater, and from infancy preferred strong flavors to bland ones. But there were a few "foods" that I simply refused to eat. My grandmother insisted that I try "just one bite" of salad with Roquefort dressing at a restaraunt once, after I told her that the smell of it was nauseating. To please her, I ate the damned stuff... and promptly vomited half of a perfectly good dinner into her lap. (I think that I was 6 at the time.) She never did that again.

While I also do not grok peanut butter, there are a lot of worse things from the nutritional standpoint. A PB sandwich = a little protein, a moderate serving of carb, and a little fat. Jelly adds fruit values and sugar. Put a glass of milk next to it, and you could do a LOT worse.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know it's actually pretty decent nutrition. Means buying or making bread regularly, of course. I still think it's weird though. :)