Just Eat It

Early on, my husband and I made an important parenting decision that continues to pay us back tenfold. We did our best to offer our children a wide variety of food experiences. In doing so, they have each developed a broad spectrum of likes with few dislikes. At the age of 7, O discovered she no longer liked cottage cheese. Later, at age 9, she discovered that green beans leave her with an unpleasant feeling in her stomach. Her favorite foods include steak and mushrooms. She won't be one of those salad and water prom dates, so save up, boys. M has always had a love affair with popcorn. However, the relationship came to a sudden halt in the summer of 2009 when we finally attributed a rather horrendous odor continually emitted from our lovely 8 year old to the tasty treat. The combination of popcorn and milk has become lethal. She has learned to limit both and never co-mingle. She prefers vanilla to chocolate and would rather skip the pat of butter on her bread. B has a disturbing love of chocolate that began in infancy when her child care teacher shared a small bowl of M&Ms with her. She soon learned which cupboard held the special candy and would tap on it until one of the two teachers gave her a small bowl. This continued with her daily visits to her favorite teachers until she moved on to kindergarten. The kid can now sniff out a morsel of chocolate in 2.5 seconds. Do keep your fingers out of harms way. B is also a corndog, hotdog, grilled cheese, and hippopotamus loving fiend. (Hippopotamus is actually chicken cordon bleu...that's another story for another time!) Thankfully, the girls learned early on to try a little bit of everything. We've also stressed with them to try things a second time, because our pallets are ever-changing and because not all recipes are equal. At the end of a meal, if their plate hasn't been cleared, we simply ask they eat four more bites of something. This can lead to grumbles, but more often than not, they simply do as they're told. As guinea pigs, my family must endure new recipes often. Some are met with great enthusiasm, while others are picked apart relentlessly. Nevertheless, many of our meals are trial and error. Tonight's dinner was a chicken and penne dish with an easy four cheese sauce, mixed veggies, and sour dough bread. Simple and quick. I was disappointed in the pasta, but everyone ate heartily...well, almost every one. As I watched B pick another piece of chicken out of her pasta, I reminded her to at least try the pasta. She pointed her fork at me and said, "Mom, are you up to something?" Confused, I said, "No, sweetheart, I don't think I'm up to something." She pushed another piece of her penne aside and said, "Well, I think you're up to something." She reached for the bowl of mixed vegetables and heaped another spoonful on her plate. She looked at me thoughtfully and said, "I think you made that stuff (pointing to the pasta) so that I would eat more vegetables." It was all I could do to keep from showering the table with a mouthful of my dinner. I swallowed hard and asked, "Did it work?" She said, "Yup." I didn't even bother with making her eat the usual "four bites" before being excused from the table.