Picky Eater Helps to Cook, Eats Fun Meals, and Learns Rhymes, Colors, and More!

garybaer's story

July 24, 2007

Well, I have finally come to the conclusion that helping in the kitchen is the best way for children not only to learn, but to eat fun and creative foods. When Joshua was born, I had a feeling after 6 months, he would not be a big eater. He rarely drank more than 6 ounces. When he drank 4 ounces, I was so happy I celebrated. When he drank almost 6 ounces, I was afraid he'd throw up. Introducing new foods was challenging and stressful. So by the time he turned one, it was time for him to help in the kitchen. I let him bang measuring cups, spoons, and figure out covers on tupperware. As he became a little older, I let him pour water in a pot. The hard part was he was too young to understand that 2 cups in a recipe is not 10 cups so I put 2 pots next to each other. One for him to keep pouring in, and one for our actual meal. When I knew he was ready, I let him put food in the pot. Vegetable Soup is the best recipe to begin with. I sat him on the counter and would tell him each vegetable used, the color of it, where it grew (tree, ground, vine), and how much we needed. I would say the vegetable we needed and he would touch it and get to put it in the pot. Onions were a challenge.(so I did those) Today, he says, "mommy when I was 2 and 3 I didn't like onions, they make you cry and I don't like to cry." After all the vegi's were in the pot, I would explain to him we needed to put the fire on for the soup to cook. He said, "HOT" and I said, "HOT POT". Then rhymes came in to play. I would say, "don't touch the hot pot Joshua Poshua." He would laugh and say do more. Another one is, "Celery is not red and it doesn't go on your head." We had so much fun learning to cook cool things. Today, he helps bake cookies from scratch, loves to make silly rhymes, and knows ALL colors, such as "teal". He also knows ingredients for many recipes. The best part of this is the quality of time you get with your child, seeing him learn and remember things, and of course eating a yummy meal!