Thursday, April 11, 2013

Experiment Part #2 - How I Got My Toddler to Eat (and Like) Green Onions

As many of you know, I went on a mission a few weeks ago to cure my kids of the following bad habits:

1.  Refusing to try new stuff that I went to all the trouble to make (which really irritated me since I had to referee fights and try to keep them alive while I cooked this "new" meal).
2.  Uttering the phrase, "Mommy I'm hungry" every fifteen minutes, all day long, even after we just ate breakfast three minutes prior
3.  Not eating enough vegetables

So, in my last post about this, I revealed how I got my daughter to start helping me cook and how it totally changed the evening.  Instead of feeling like I was fighting a battle while I cooked dinner, I actually enjoyed it.  My daughter did too, and she even was more adventurous with trying the meal since she had helped me make it.

Next, I decided to tackle the fruits and vegetables issue.  Again, I was truly amazed at the results.  This picture says it all:


This is a photo of my three year old, eating and enjoying green onions.  Here is how it happened.  I was letting them help me make dinner and green onions were part of the recipe.  My little guy asked if he could try them.  My initial reaction was to say, "No, you won't like those, just hand them over."

But then I took a step back and remembered what the book taught me.  It's all about the process.  So, I said, "Sure, go ahead!"  I was amazed when he said, "Mommy, these are good!"

He proceeded to eat the ENTIRE stalk of green onions.  And this is a kid who doesn't even like carrots.  Now all of a sudden he like raw green onions???

Next, the Edamame was finished and again the kids asked if they could try it.  I had intended to save it for dinner, but again I told them it was okay and I looked over a couple minutes later and saw Big Sis popping those edamame out of their shells and handing them to her little brother and even feeding him like he was a little hungry birdie.


Lastly, Little Buddy did the dishes for me (Yes, I had to change his shirt because he got himself a little wet, but I still appreciated his help all the same)


This "cooking project" has been going on for over a month now and the kids haven't lost interest yet.  I believe there are a few reasons that my experiments have worked so well:

1.  They get to stand on their own stools during the entire process
2.  I have been very willing to let them do things I wouldn't normally do (like peeling carrots by themselves...normally I would have thought that was way too sharp of an object, but I supervised carefully and they totally proved me wrong)
3.  I made it fun...fun for them AND fun for me!

My last Experiment will be to update you on how I eliminated snacking...stay tuned!!

PS...thanks to all of you who bought my book while it was on sale this week...I'm proud to say that we got up to #1 in the Parenting Category and Susan and I were thrilled!

Best Blogger Tips
  • Share On Facebook
  • Digg This Post
  • Stumble This Post
  • Tweet This Post
  • Save Tis Post To Delicious
  • Float This Post
  • Share On Reddit
  • Bookmark On Technorati
Blog Gadgets
Posted by at 5:05 AM

2 comments:

  1. UnknownApril 12, 2013 at 3:34 PM

    I have not given them green onions to try...but now I will. It is funny that if you don't tell them 'you aren't going to like these' they develop their own opinions and like them after all! A good reminder...thank you : 0 ).
    Theresa (Capri + 3)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Spanish PinayApril 16, 2013 at 6:52 PM

    oh this is very inspiring! my daughter used to eat almost anything I gave her but she has changed a lot since I couldn't remember when. The she has changed to not even wanting to try... so I gotta try this process! Thanks for sharing :)

    Spanish Pinay

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)