IN HOPING MY AMERICAN KID EATS EVERYTHING

I’ve been reading through the book French Kids Eat Everything, and am now super inspired about getting my own little American kid to eat everything too. 🙂

The book itself is an interesting read…lighthearted, intriguing, and a little eye-opening to the real French culture. It’s written by an North American woman who married a French man, had two children, and then moved to a small village in the French countryside for a year to experience his native culture. One of the things this mother learned quickly was the vast difference in the eating habits of not only French kids to American kids, but also French adults to American adults. Food is such an integral part of the French culture, and it’s almost as if a family’s entire day revolves mostly around…food. In fact, mealtimes are an event for the French, which means no eating on the go or mindless snacking and such. Family mealtimes are an essential part of family life, which in turn is what enables French children to experience a wide range of food and flavors at a young age since they are eating with adults and mostly eating what adults eat.

I’m a foodie person who loves cooking and eating and trying new things, so of course this aspect of the French culture is appealing to me. I know so many American kids exist on a steady diet of chicken fingers, French fries, macaroni and cheese, and all the “kid food” items that we just expect kids to eat as they grow up. It’s almost like we don’t even expect them to eat anything else, right? And that’s where the French food culture differs: they expect their children to develop the ability to eat all kinds of food. Vegetables, fruits, soups, salads, and even things that I would have a hard time eating like liver pâté, snails, and foie gras.

It’s already easy for me to get in a rut with the foods I prepare for Ayla, but I’m freshly determined to do my best at teaching her good eating habits and getting a variety of food and flavors into her little belly. Here a few tips from the book that I thought were helpful:

Parents, you are in charge of your child’s food education. If you don’t teach them good habits, no one will.

Avoid emotional eating, which means not using food as a reward, bribes, or punishment. This one is already difficult for me, because it’s so easy to give Ayla something to snack on when she’s fussing. I really want to be proactive at home in not developing the habit for myself in using food as a calming or soothing tool, but if we are out for a meal or with other people, I do often pull out a pretzel or cracker or dried fruit piece to keep her happy and distracted while we are having conversation.

Children should eat what adults eat…no short-order cooking. If a child refuses to eat something on their plate, don’t fight or force them…simply remove the offending item but do not give them something as a replacement.

If a child has a hard time with a certain food, tell them “you don’t have to like it, but you do have to taste it.” Apparently it can take about seven times of trying something new in order to develop a taste for it, so repeated tastings can get a child to enjoy something they previously didn’t like.

Don’t allow endless snacking. It’s ok to feel hungry between meals and to teach your child to wait to eat until the appointed time. French mothers feed their children one afternoon snack between lunch and dinner, but thats it. I’m not sure I’m totally on board with this technique, because I’m a two-or-three-snack-a-day person myself and we pretty much never go to bed without a little bedtime snack. But I like the idea of “mindful” snacking, which means it’s something intentional and not just get-a-snack-whenever-you-want-one. I’m sure this strategy is much easier said than done, especially with older children, but it’s what we’re shooting for as my own little ones grow up.

Slow food is happy food. Eat slowly, mindfully, and with pleasure.

So I have eggplant, cauliflower, and leeks all sitting in my refrigerator right now, waiting to make their way into my child’s mouth and tummy…and hopefully they make it to the tummy and don’t end up back on the tray once she’s had a taste. 😉 Bon appetit, little one!

What about you: what are your thoughts and strategies for raising good eaters? 

I’d love to hear your thoughts!