As you know, I firmly believe in letting a toddler choose what he/she wants to eat and how much, even if that means having only a cupcake for dinner, or only broccoli on her plate. I've read over and over that when presented with a wide array of foods (including sweets), toddlers will balance out their food choices in the long run. That said, I've also been sensing that our daughter is becoming frightened of tasting new foods (except for Hanukkah gelt ). And I don't want this to become a "thing" where we go to a friend's house for dinner and have a child who won't eat anything simply because it isn't Cheerios or puffs. I also don't want to become a short-order cook. And most importantly, I don't want my daughter to be scared of food.
So I decided, with the agreement of my husband, to conduct an experiment with the goal of helping teach our daughter that it's okay to taste new foods. That she'll like some of them, and she won't like some of them. And even if she doesn't like a food, that's okay. We now have a chart (we call it a chart, though there is no order to it whatsoever) hanging on our refrigerator where our daughter is collecting stickers. She gets one sticker for every new-to-her food that she tastes. We're also trying to require a two-bite rule with these tastings, because oftentimes the first bite gets spit out and labeled yucky, but the second bite is more tolerable, sometimes even enjoyable.
The first food we tested this system on was our New Year's Eve Potatoes Au Gratin, which were delicious, and frankly, aren't that far off from two foods she already likes: macaroni and cheese, and french fries. E sat on my lap for a good 10 minutes saying she didn't want to taste the food, but she wanted a sticker, and then a "snack," because she was still hungry (and didn't like what was served for dinner). I told her if she just took two teeny-tiny (smaller than a pea sized) bites of the potatoes, she could get a sticker for her chart and have a snack.
My husband asked if she was scared to taste the potatoes (an important question that I'm so glad he asked), and the answer was yes. So I told her to squeeze my finger if it tasted bad. She took a bite and spit it out. "Yucky," she said. She didn't want anymore. But I told her in order to get her sticker and have a snack, she needed to taste one more (smaller-than-a-pea-sized) bite. I also reminded her that she didn't have to taste it--she only had to do so if she wanted the sticker (and snack that wasn't part of what mom cooked for dinner). Finally, after about 3-5 more minutes, she took a second bite, and we asked, "What did you think?" "Good," she said. She even told my parents about it the next day and said the potatoes were yummy.
The next night we went out to Chinese food (with cantaloupe and graham crackers stashed in a purse) and she surprised us by diving into an egg roll and Chow Fun noodles before any of us realized what had happened (she tried two new foods). The next day, E's cousins came over for lunch, and ate some cuties (clementines) with the meal. At first E didn't want one, but I reminded her that she could have a sticker on her chart if she tasted two bites. Instantly, she asked her cousin for a bite. During the first bite you could tell she was evaluating whether or not she liked it. After the second bite, she asked for more, and ended up splitting another two cuties with her cousins, juice running down her chin and arms all the while.
Just two weeks into this experiment, our daughter discovered that she likes dim sum, tortilla soup and green beans!! In fact, when I asked her about the green beans, the conversation went like this:
Me: "What do you think? Do you like the green beans?"
E: "Good."
Me: "Are the green beans crunchy?"
E: "No, they're yummy!"
Me: "Do you want another one?"
E: "No."
End of conversation. After three bites of a brand new food--green beans--she'd decided she liked them, but didn't want more. And that's OK! What I'm finding is that the more and more comfortable she gets with a new food, the more (quantity) she is inclined to eat of it, but not on the first night. And there is never any pushing from mom and dad to have more. Tortilla soup is a great example of this. In a period of about one week, she went from eating two bites of soup with a "what is this" scrunched up look on her face, to eating about a 1/4 of a bowl of it three nights ago.
So while I don't think we should make the dinner table a battlefield for our children, I do think we need to know our own kids. I was sensing our daughter was putting up a wall with food because she was scared. But I also sensed that if we could break through that wall, a whole new world of food would open up for her (to her delight). This experiment is still new, but so far, so good. Our daughter is much more inclined to taste a new food, and I'm finding that by the third or so night of tasting a new food, she's starting to like it.
She also seems to be "getting" that what mom and dad make for dinner, is what's for dinner. The ability to earn a sticker through tasting something new has somehow lessened her urge to walk to the refrigerator and get something that's not being served for dinner. Hence the "transforming" nature of mealtime at home. What a delight!
Have you had similar experiences with your kids?
Monday, January 30, 2012 at 01:06AM 
