Friday, June 26, 2009

To all of you Parents who have picky eaters in your family. . .

I am coming clean on-line for all of you.  I am hoping this helps you parents who have picky eaters because there is hope for your children.  

Up until I was about 21, I was the ultimate picky eater.  I honestly remember waking up and dreading the day ahead knowing I would have to eat.  With the exception of a few items, I hated the taste of most foods.  I spent most of my nights growing up sitting at the table, while everyone left and my mom insisting I eat three more bites.  It would sometimes take hours for me to do it.  So, I get it.  I have been there.  When I hit my teens, I forced myself to eat healthy foods because I understood how important it was, but honestly I hated every bite.    

I really don't know exactly when the "switch" happened, but sometime in my college years, foods that I had hated before didn't taste so bad.  Mushrooms were delicious, sweet potatoes tasted wonderful, broccoli was edible.  When as a child, just the smell of any Asian restaurant would make me nauseous, as a college student, I could do it and I could find something on the menu that looked and tasted good where ever we went.  

Now to be completely honest, there are things I still don't like--green peppers, cooked string beans (even though I love raw, fresh from the garden green beans), most Indian food and sushi.  But, for the most part, I am now a very normal eater.  I even have had friends say in front of my family what an exotic cook and eater I am.  My family (my mother in particular) can't believe anyone would say anything so crazy.  

So, folks with picky eaters, not all hope is lost.  Your children may end up being happy eating adults.  Hope this cheers some of you up.   (And, if you are wondering, for some unexplained reason, I was not given one picky eater.  My kids eat anything and everything.  I know, you can all start hating me again.)  

8 comments:

Mumsy said...

LOL

I used to be a picky eater, too. It took moving away from UT to see that yes, in fact, people ate more than canned veggies and casseroles for dinner. I've never looked back.

Jan said...

Thanks Janice for your comment.

I am laughing about the picky eater. It is a very frustrating thing when dinner comes around. Or breakfast or lunch for that matter. Have a great day :)

Michelle said...

Thanks for the hope! I have picky eaters and I hope someday they will be normal too!

Marie said...

A mission cured Michael of his "pickyness". We can't wait to see him eat when he gets home.

Marie said...

oops.. this is Jane Anne...Marie was still signed on

Gabriela said...

You still don't like Italian food? Now that is just sad.

:)

No picky eaters here, thank goodness. My kids ask for plain seaweed sometimes.

love.boxes said...

I worry that my daughter is just not getting the nutrtion from produce that she needs to build a healthy immune system. I hope the pickiness ends soon.

Jeanne said...

You have given me hope! Jackson is a totally picky eater. I have homemade pizza once a week to appease but the rest of the time, he's forced to eat what the rest of us are eating and he makes clear how unpleasant it is. How did you survive in Israeal? had the switch already started?