Kids wont eat chicken dinner

tichellady

Tue, May 10 2016, 4:13 pm

amother wrote:

I wish they'd eat these.

they are not underweight in the least but I can't just say that I won't feed them cuz of that. right?

do you have a name for that book?
they are great kids. so fun and friendly and positive. obviously they fight and compete and whine and and and but that's normal. mostly in this area, they stress me out.

she has many books, they are all similar. They are older so not totally current when it comes to what food groups we consider healthy today, but the idea is what's relevant. One of her books is Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family: How to Eat, How to Raise Good Eaters, How to Cook, or just read through her site http://ellynsatterinstitute.org/index.php

Her tactics will help you stop stressing out about this. Your kids are probably picking up on your stress and that can't help the situation. Nothing productive will come out of that. They are responsible for their eating, not you. You, as the parent, have a very important role, but you need to learn where it starts and ends. I wish you luck with all this! It sounds like you are ready for a change and this will make your family life more peaceful.

amother

Hotpink

Tue, May 10 2016, 4:20 pm

Yes, what I posted above is directly from Ellyn Satter. Check out ellynsatterinstitute.org. The idea is division of responsibility: parents are responsible to provide the food, kids are responsible for whether and how much of the meal they eat. If they choose not to eat, yes, they'll go to bed hungry. Barring underlying issues (such as extreme anxiety or sensory issues) kids will eat when they're hungry. You put out the food you want to serve, and leave it at that. No stressing over what or how much they choose to eat. Obviously it's a good idea to have something on the table they will eat, so you know they eat something, even if it's not in the perfect starch-protein-veggie ratio you'd like.

Raisin

Tue, May 10 2016, 5:01 pm

I've noticed if I serve a food often enough kids will eventually eat it. So keep making new food even if your kids won't eat it. Maybe the tenth time they will eat it.

eg I often pasta and cheese but make salmon for my and my husband. More and more my kids want the salmon too.

You can make protein filled soups like lentil soup. Then if the kids don't eat the chicken they'll have eaten something with protein.

ra_mom

Tue, May 10 2016, 5:21 pm

If you want to accommodate them some ideas for a bit of variety may be

-Pizza (try for whole wheat and throw on just a tiny sprinkle of extras to start to open their palettes)
-Baked ziti (mix some pureed pumpkin in the tomato sauce, tastes great and start to increase and get them used to other flavors)
-Quiche (you can slowly put some flakes of salmon or tuna in there)
-Baked blintz loaf or muffins (no need for crepes)
-Fish sticks
-Curious if they'd eat bought chicken nuggets
-Tuna balls instead of falafel balls to try to open them up a bit while still accommodating their tastes - serve it deconstructed before they get used to the pocket sandwich
-When you make tuna patties put in half salmon to expand their taste buds a bit
-Serve well seasoned avocado alongside the eggs
-Spinach cheese bites
-baked creamy scalloped potatoes made with heavy cream

Last edited by ra_mom on Tue, May 10 2016, 8:24 pm; edited 2 times in total

mommy1108

Tue, May 10 2016, 5:23 pm

What about a noodle dish with chicken. My kids love pasta but for a balanced meal I do whole wheat pasta w chicken done Asian or even just garlic oil and herbs. Then they get their pasta fix. Also what about fish sticks? Kids like those. For my one child who won't do fleishigs I give barilla plus pasta bc even though it does have some white flour it has lentil and chickpea flour and tastes like reg white pasta.

gold21

Tue, May 10 2016, 9:42 pm

Do u and/or your husband eat supper with them? Maybe give your kids the food they want for a couple of weeks, while u and your husband make it very obvious that you are really enjoying the chicken and meat dinners.

I wonder if they would maybe show more interest....

I dunno. I find my kids often like to eat what they see my husband eating.

gold21

Tue, May 10 2016, 9:44 pm

mommy1108 wrote:

Thats a good idea, to do pasta dish with meat or chicken in it. Like meat lasagna, for example.

Nicole

Wed, May 11 2016, 5:33 am

Fwiw my kids barely eat any fleishigs. For years it was a major fight but now I just try to make healthful things that they do like. For example if I am preparing a fleishig dinner, I'll include a parve veggie soup Which they can eat with cheese sprinkled in for protein at the kitchen table.

CEF

Wed, May 11 2016, 7:27 am

if they eat soup, then why not make chicken soup with veggies, lentils, etc, then take out all the chicken (and bones) after cooking and blend the soup. no bits! my kids love that kind of chicken soup

amother

Goldenrod

Wed, May 11 2016, 9:03 am

One dd ate grilled cheese sandwiches (real cheese on whole wheat), Mac and cheese (I made from scratch and froze), pizza, peanut butter, yogurt with dried or fresh fruit and not much else for about 3 years. She also ate fruit, omlettes, pancakes, and --once in a while, waffles. She didn't eat much more till she went off to college (although she agreed to meat in sesame noodles ). Her pediatrician said to leave her alone so I did. She's a healthy young woman who has gradually increased her food variety. Oh--and she used to eat spaghetti sauce with lean ground meat it it of chili with ground beef and no lentils because she wouldn't eat them. I shredded carrots and added them to the sauce.
Anon in case a friend who I just told this all too is here.

amother

Wine

Wed, May 11 2016, 9:35 am

wow! thanks for the ideas all!! so many good ideas. I will be trying them. cant wait.

problem is that my kids will detect anything I try to "hide" in their food. even a tiny bit of chicken or meat they will take out of their mouth. especially my oldest. I'm a bit worried when I see younger one copying that just because.

for those that said fish sticks, is that a healthy food? does it have any nutritional value?

also, if you oldest is just 5, how much can you leave it up to them to eat? like can I really just rely that they will eat if they are hungry?

amother

Hotpink

Wed, May 11 2016, 9:57 am

My oldest is 5, and yes, I leave it up to him to eat or not. He generally does, because he knows I'm not going to make something else and he knows I'm not going to let him eat 5 minutes after bedtime. Sometimes he eats more noodles than I'd like and less chicken and vegetables than I'd like, but does generally eat balanced. Fish sticks have nutritional value, fish I very healthy. The breading is not so good, but it balances out because fish is healthy. You can either make your own, or check the package to make sure it's mostly fish and not junky filler (id say the same about chicken nuggets, as well- make your own, or check the ingredients and its a reasonably healthy meal).

ra_mom

Wed, May 11 2016, 5:07 pm

amother wrote:

Fish sticks have nutritional value, more so of you choose the right package. If you're looking for more protein and not just the smaller amounts of protein in cheese this is a good option to add to the rotation for variety. Look for Dr. Praeger fishies. They are shaped like goldfish and may be more nutritional than some others. Breaded fish sticks are not like a piece of salmon obviously but still a good choice when used with a variety of other items.