Thursday, September 11, 2008

The Fruit and Vegetable Wars

I dream of children who adore broccoli. Crave carrots. Beg for peas and beans. "Oh yes, Mom, please let me have an extra helping of greens." Sounds so heavenly, doesn't it?

Alas I am left to dream. Abby will gobble down peas and beans that are hidden in chicken stew. She loves butter beans... but technically, they're not a vegetable. She eats strawberries, bananas and watermelon.

J.T. shudders at the sight of anything green, orange or yellow on his plate. Attempts to coerce him into trying them meet stiff resistance. The one bite rule has resulted in gagging and barfing. Thus far, my foe has stubbornly circled his wagons and refuses to surrender to my bombardments of handsomely cut carrots, child-friendly recipes, starving children in Africa lectures, cucumbers shapes like flowers and the last weapon in my arsenal... bribery.

I have visions of him subsisting on crackers, peanut butter and grape juice for the rest of his life. I can literally name about 10 things he eats... all marginally healthy, and not the first fruit or vegetable among them. He does like water, which is a plus, but how I wish he'd take a big bite of strawberry or munch on apples dipped in peanut butter.

7 comments:

Fairlie - www.feetonforeignlands.com said...

My girls are okay with the fruit and vegetables...it's meat that they arc up about. One won't eat anything aquatic. The other just pushes anything that had four legs around her plate hoping we don't notice it never makes it to her mouth. Chicken is the only common ground. Of course, being vegetarian is probably not a bad thing.

M said...

Okay so now you're getting scary. Are JT and PL the SAME person?

We have so got to get them together so they can plot the destruction of all fruit and vegetables, refuse to pay attention in class and disappear into a virtual world of gaming and lego.

Stomper Girl said...

I hear ya, sister. I'm a mother of two crashing fusspots and it takes away from my very parental soul because feeding them is like the core of motherhood, surely? It's what nature wants us to do, nourish the child....

Can I just say though that the Climber lately has begun to show interest in new foods. He asked to taste the grown-up's meal last night, causing his smaller brother to shout out in alarm "I don't want any of that stuff!!" Don't worry kid I'm not wasting it on you.

Anonymous said...

They get there in the end. I am an incredibly fussy eater who gave birth to two incredibly fussy eaters. I work my way around it as an adult and Ashy has become pretty brave while she has been in France. We recently even took Pip to a restaurant without a children's menu and he ordered and enjoyed adult food.

Give him time. One day he'll want to take a girl out to dinner somewhere where they don't serve peanut butter.

Anonymous said...

I am very fortuanate to have spawned a healthy eater, whose only 'no' is avocadoes and seafood. It does make life easier! Good luck!

kurrabikid said...

I hear you too. My little one is 3 now and only just starting to eat better. Getting meat into him is always a battle. And he eats only a handful of veggies. You know that thing they tell you in parenting books about kids being able to eat "the family meal" after about 18 months? Lies, all lies. I heartily look forward to the day that I don't have to cook two different meals for dinner EVERY damn day.

Mary said...

JT, PL and Margot.

She eats fruit. And otherwise plain pasta, plain rice, plain cous cous, and cereal. And peanut butter and jam sandwiches.

And of course lollies!

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