Ruralrose said...This is something I too fight with everyday - mine is 16 now and if he won't eat what I cook he can cook what he wants to eat and it is most often processed foods. There is just no fight in me anymore, tears, anger and worry make no difference. I do have a few tips of things I did that helped. A hand held blender will be your greatest ally.
1. tell them they won't like it, especially when they will
2. mash beans into a dip for chips, add salsa too
3. veg soup with potato blend smooth
4. tomato sauce for pizza and spaghetti use lots of vegs and blend
5. garlic toast is always a hit
6. pesto sauce
7. nachos with pepper rings, salsa and beans
8. homemade hotsauce
9. pickles
12. remember what they don't like tonight they could like tomorrow night, lol ;)
My heart goes out to you. I still resent cooking my meal to please him, cutting it into tiny pieces, cutting off all the fat, leaving out the onions only to have him not want to eat it. Then after growing, processing and preparing the food, I have to scrap it off the plate uneaten into the chicken's bucket and wash the plate as well as the pot and plate necessary for him to cook and eat something else. Not to mention I have to go to town and buy the processed food I don't like, then I have to deal with the packaging I'm against, all the while concerned for the health of my son. Well you can see this is a sore spot, thanks for letting me vent - Good luck, peace for all
If it makes you feel any better, I would not eat anything healthy as a young man either. It was not until later in life that I remembered the foods and lifestyle I rebelled against as a child. Now my parents eat processed food and I preach to them...life is strange.
ReplyDeleteHave no doubt that even though the things you are teaching him now may sometimes seem to fall upon deaf ears, they might well be remembered and acted upon when he is older. Learning is often a very belated process.
I agree with Mr. H.
ReplyDeleteEventually, they DO come back to how they were raised. Half the time , I think they don't eat the good stuff just to piss us off-
Keep sane-they grow up eventually!
:D
Thanks for the encouragement!
ReplyDeleteI am going through the same things with the 11 year old. My solution is to cook what I like. If she complains she is encouraged to leave the table and make herself a piece of (whole wheat) bread with (organic) peanut butter. I'm done with the fighting to. They have frozen pizza on the night I work late!
ReplyDeleteMy experience is like Mr.H. I must have been a nightmare for my Mum. Now I eat absolutely anything (avoiding processed of course, can't afford it ;-)).
ReplyDeleteWell this does seem to be a common problem which works itself out - what a relief to find this out after struggling so long in silence! Peace
ReplyDeleteYour tips are making me hungry Rose, great list!
ReplyDeletethanks Kelly, did the same for me, cooked up some nachos right after writing, peace for all
ReplyDeleteOMG!This sounds exactly like my son,except he is 12! I have noticed he is slowly,and I do mean slowly,coming around.He has a lot of food allergies and is realizing he is responsible for how he feels by what he puts in his mouth.I always feel so frustrated because I raised him to eat well and he is so picky.We raise our own food and to see all that hard work go to waste when I scrape his plate in the scrap bowl is aggravating!
ReplyDeleteMy son (now 23) has always been a good eater. When he worked at the nearby farm stand, he'd eat 7 or 8 bell peppers like apples. Mothers would point him out to their kids and say, "See, why can't you eat like THAT boy!" Even so, he didn't always like what I put on the table and would end up cooking his own. It was no problem though because he took a cooking project in 4-H when he was 8 and learned to make things like apple pie from scratch, biscuits and gravy, stuffed Cornish game hen, and pizza from scratch.
ReplyDeleteRose, you can make this all easier for yourself a couple of ways. First, don't buy ANYTHING you don't approve of. If the boy has to have processed food, let him buy his own. Second, in my house everyone washes their own dishes unless I invite them to dinner. So if Bob cooks, he cleans his own mess. We battled over WHEN the dishes would be cleaned. I finally said I don't want any dishes in the sink, ever. He'd push this as far as he could until finally I just started throwing anything he left in the sink at him. Was that juvenile? Maybe, but it worked.
I think Mr. H is right, everyone figures out eventually what's best for themselves.