Picky Children

My stepson just turned 7 i’ve known him for three years lol in this whole time he is the most stubborn kid I’ve ever come across 😂😅. My son & him are only a few months apart so I know what he’s capable of and it’s easy for me to compare the two because I literally have a son the same age. ( not that I sit here & compare in personality) but it would be different if there was a bigger age gap. Im looking for advice on getting him to eat different foods, and also not be so damn rude about it either. He doesn’t seem to have any aversions, he’s just set on the foods he likes and finds anything else just repulsing. He likes chicken nuggets, mac N cheese and all things sweet. He absolutely HATES new foods. I have tried a few different things ex: having a safe food - then a food I would like him to try. He will not do it on his own. Because he is not my son and I am not with him all the time I don’t force anything, but I will occasionally keep the food I want him to try on hand all day & offer it everytime he wants a “ snack”. Which is chips, icecream, cookies etc. I have incorporated fruit, so he will snack on that luckily but still very picky. So it’s still just strawberries really lol. He will go all day without eating if I do this and deadass will snack on icecubes 😂 What other tips do you have ? He does have some behavioral issues hence why he’s just rude as hell😂. Willl grab his nose and gag and tell me how disgusting and nasty everything is. My mom is a great cook and he will really look her dead in the face and tell her that her food is nasty and he won’t be eating that. We will try to have him take a few bites of something so atleast he can try it and he will negotiate with us like “ how many bites do I need to take before I can have xyz”. Sometimes I swear he actually likes the new food after a few bites, but since he knows he only has to take a few bites he stays committed and expects his “ safe” food after. My son eats almost anything under the sun. So it’s really hard to feed them both when Im catering so dearly to my step son. I absolutley hate going out to eat because he gets the same thing from EVERYwhere we go. Mac & cheese & french fries. While my son and I usually will share whatever I get. I just don’t think it’s fair to be honest. Any advice?

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Oof. Not much advice here, but just want to say I’m in a similar situation and I feel your pain. We are temporarily living with my in-laws while we sell our house and my nieces spend their days here while their mom works. They eat VERY few things. Mostly chips, plain pizza, chicken fingers, ice cream. They eat that around my kids all day who I’m desperately trying to keep on track of trying new things often and eating healthy foods and a variety. However, the picky nieces are older than mine by 4 and 8 years, so they’re basically worshipped by mine. When one of them tells mine that they don’t like what she’s eating—even if they haven’t been asked to eat it themselves—she suddenly hates it too, even some of her treasured favorite meals. It’s breaking my heart that their influence is causing my daughter to backtrack and believe she’s not supposed to like things that she’s always loved! One thing I keep trying is to bring the focus to things I know they do like. Even if they’re not great.

Also, with my nieces—I did get one to try tricolor rotini with meat sauce and broccoli. She liked it and now declares she likes broccoli (HUGE win!). I just stumbled into this, but I think it worked because she already liked pasta noodles and the broccoli was covered in sauce (although she did know it was there). What I think the real success with this dish came from was that no one pushed it on her. No one actually even offered her any. Her mom was going to take her out to eat. SHE said she wanted to try it. I think letting her come to it on her own made a huge difference. I think when we tell kids they have to try something, especially to get something else, the healthy food becomes just a hurdle to get past. Now, I’ve made plenty other meals that she was not curious about and did not ask to try. So maybe it was a fluke too. 😆

I have one of these too, although still a bit younger. One thing that sometimes works is to have him help me make a meal. Then he's invested in it and willing to try a little. Otherwise we just keep offering and feeling exhausted at having to make multiple meals all the time.

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