Picky Eaters

My oldest son is a picky eater...a very picky eater.  All this year for his school lunches I've packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Oh, I tried sneaking in a few other things for variety.  But, in the end, the one thing I could guarantee he would actually eat was PB & J.  And,  he never gets sick of it.

Usually at dinnertime he will sit and look at his plate and not eat until daddy initiates the '5 minute rule'. (He has 5 minutes to clear his plate or there are consequences.  Some people disagree with the 'clear your plate' method.  But, we only give him a small scoop of each item.  And, this particular method is the one that seems most effective with him.)

It's frustrating.  Especially when every mealtime is met with moans and groans and complaints of how 'yucky' it all is.

I admit I've pulled out the 'there are starving children in this world' line.  Which there are.  And, it's hard for me to see my child reject the nourishment that's been provided to him.


But, this morning I was thinking about some of the things that I refused to eat as a kid.  And, these are all things that I now eat.  Some of those items included:

1.  spinach
2.  ketchup  (weird, I know)
3.  cooked egg yolk (When my mom made 'dippy' eggs, aka sunnyside up eggs, I would eat the whites & dip my toast in the runny yolk part, but would leave the part of the yolk that was cooked.
4.  egg salad (I had some of this as part of my breakfast today.  This is what initiated the walk down memory lane).
5.  hard cooked eggs, deviled eggs, red beet eggs.  (I had a thing about eggs.)
6.  pickles
7. olives
8. salad dressing.  I would sprinkle salt on my salad & eat it dry.
9.  cantaloupe
10. dark chocolate (can you believe that??!!)

I'm sure there are more items that I'm just not remembering.  But, of the items on that list the only thing I still won't eat are olives.  Blech!
(Just thought of another one.  I hated cooked carrots as a kid.  They made me gag.  But, now I really like them.)
My point to this is, I really think our taste buds mature as we age.  So, our picky eaters may some day become foodies who will try just about anything.  We can hope.