by Jennifer | Apr 27, 2015 | food, parent experience, picky eating
I learned about the “pile-on” from friends at work many years ago—the modern version of a pot-luck, where everyone brings 1-2 ingredients to put together a meal. We usually enjoyed the Mexican Pile-On, with tortillas, chips, ground beef, shredded chicken, beans, tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, cheese, olives, etc. The “pile-on” is the fun part: everyone gets to choose from all the separate items to build their own taco, burrito, or nachos. With my own kids, the pile-on dinner has become an easy way for me to serve family-style in a manner that suits the very different feeding temperaments of my children. I have expanded this to the “Potato Pile-On”, “Pasta Pile-On”, and “Pancake Pile-On”. I get out lots of toppings and put them all on the table, and am continuously surprised at the “inventions” that my boys make from the offerings. The pasta night includes spaghetti, tortellini, or some other pasta, pesto and tomato sauce, cut up tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, and avocados, Parmesan and mozzarella cheese, and diced chicken or ground turkey. Pancake pile-on is made up of sweet potato or apple pancakes (I add sweet potato puree or applesauce), various fruit cut up in bowls, yogurt, turkey bacon or apple-cinnamon sausage, gouda or goat cheese, and scrambled eggs. The other night, we had baked potatoes, and my oldest came up with this: My younger son went a completely different way (no surprise there) but ended up with quite the food sculpture! Mine was a more traditional stuffed baked potato with cheese, sour cream, broccoli, and turkey bacon, with the tomatoes and avocados on the side as a...
by Jennifer | Apr 21, 2015 | extreme picky eating, food, parent experience, picky eating
“I couldn’t get him to eat anything.” While reviewing the progress of the children in my feeding program with my graduate student clinicians, I hear this type of statement all the time. There is sometimes so much ‘get’ that I have to stop the discussion and tell the students to remove that word from their vocabulary during feeding therapy. Why? The words we say out loud, and even in our own heads, can make a huge difference in how we think and feel about others, ourselves, and our actions. How we behave is influenced by what we’re thinking . . . and words are a direct reflection of our thoughts. Words matter. They shape our thinking and other’s perceptions of our message. They can color a conversation, and can change someone’s mind. Words can drive a wedge between partners or support someone so they can go on to change the world. Henry Ward Beecher said “All words are pegs to hang ideas on”. If we view words in that way, it can help us to see how our language can make a huge difference in not only how our children react to us, but how WE react to THEM. If you have an agenda and the child isn’t cooperating, your instinct is to do something to GET them to play along. So many parents I work with say the following types of things: “How do I GET her to eat more?” “I can’t figure out how to GET him to drink.” “His doctor said we need to GET 24 ounces in him.” “I just can’t GET him to...
by Jennifer | Apr 14, 2015 | anxiety, extreme picky eating, food, picky eating, sensory integration
When I was a child, I hated cheese. I couldn’t imagine eating it. Although I ate pizza, it didn’t really register that it was cheese on top. Once, when I was about 12, a good friend thought it would be hilarious to force me to eat some cold cheddar cheese. She easily held me down (being quite a bit taller than I was) and crammed a large chunk of cheese into my mouth and then kept her hand over my mouth so I couldn’t spit it out. In my memory, fumes were coming out of my ears. It was traumatic, and I haven’t ever let her live down that little stunt. Early in college, I went on a trip to Europe with my dad and we spent two days on the Orient Express. Every afternoon on the train, they served stinky French cheeses at tea. I literally had to stick my head out of the tiny window next to my seat while my father enjoyed the array of veined cheeses. My senior year found me at a friend’s parents’ house where they served us wine and, you guessed it— cheese. This time, though, there were grapes and strawberries and crackers to go with it. I voiced my apprehension, and my friend gently explained how I might enjoy Brie or Gouda since they were milder. And she suggested I try a small amount on a large cracker— with a grape in the same bite. To my surprise, I enjoyed it. And my love affair with cheese began. Mealtime Hostage blogger Skye VanZetten discusses her son’s journey toward cheese in this...
