Many parents know what it’s like to deal with a picky eater. It can be frustrating to figure out what you’re going to make for yourself, your partner, and your child who only wants to eat buttered noodles and peanut butter sandwiches.
One mom has come up with a helpful solution for parents who want to expand their children’s culinary horizons, but , of course, she’s getting backlash for it online.
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Growing up, my parents essentially refused to let me be a picky eater.
If I didn’t want to eat something, they would make sure I at least tried it once or twice at dinner time to make sure I didn’t change my mind. My parents never ordered off of kids menus and cooked just one meal for the entire family.
I’m glad my parents raised me the way they did because now I have no problem trying new foods!
Of course, every parent is different and every child will respond to different methods, and no two children are the same.
Now, one mom is trying to help parents with picky eaters by sharing a great hack to get them used to new foods.
But of course, since it’s the internet, some people had issues with it and made it very clear.
Registered children’s dietician Kacie Barnes shared a trick she uses for her young kids who aren’t the biggest fans of pasta sauce.
Showing herself mixing in tiny amounts of sauce into elbow pasta, Kacie wrote : “Putting in a tiny drop may feel like, ‘why am I even doing this?’ But you have GOT to start somewhere. And that teeny bit is exactly where you’re going to have success!”
“Less picky kiddos will more quickly accept more sauce, like within a couple times of serving.”
“With highly picky kids, you’re going to be on a longer mission but it’s not impossible!! This is how I got my picky son to accept butter on bread/toast. It took us awhile but we did it,” Kacie added.
While many parents were thankful for the hack, others took issue with it.
“Am I missing something? Why not let them eat it how they like it?” wrote one woman.
“Why are you giving them sauce if they don’t want it? Just give them the pasta they do like without it… that’s awful, sneaking stuff into your own child’s food,” said another.
“I agree with this and i don’t,” echoed a different user.
“This to me is tricking the child. Why can’t we just be upfront with children about what we are serving?”
One woman pointed out that this can work for some kiddos, but not for others.
“This is good for building their taste in food but please do remember that some kids (nuerodivergent or however you spell it) it might be a texture thing!” they wrote.
“Some things they might not like are some meats (beef or ham, maybe bread, certain pastas, eggs, certain veggies) can have texture problems so do try and find a few alternatives or other ways to get them used to the texture.”
Such a helpful tip!
“why are we normalising feeding children things they’ve said they don’t like,” asked another user.
Despite the backlash, it seems like the hack has worked for a lot of people!
“This is what I did with my son before and it really works,” said one mom.
“He’s now more accepting and open in eating food with sauces,” they added.
“Brilliant! Have to try this with my kids,” someone else said.
I think it’s clear the RD was just trying to help parents who want their kids to expand their culinary horizons, and shouldn’t be taken that seriously!
