A little background.
Hannah is 8. In the grand scheme of things, she is a good eater. There aren't a lot of vegetables she refuses. Her favorite thing when she was younger was to go to the salad bar at the market and get a "special lunch." She won't eat anything with any kind of sauce or dressing on it, which means I make separate meals for her often.
Asher is 4. He is particular about his food. He would eat chicken nuggets three times a day if I let him. He likes most fruit, but his vegetable intake is limited: cucumbers, carrots (formerly only cooked carrots, but lately he'll eat them raw too,) baby food squash. Yes, baby food squash. Hey, it's squash, and he eats it.
My husband and I were fed up with the kids looking at something on their plates and, without tasting it, saying, "I don't like <insert offensive food here>!" We tried to simply say, "everyone must take a bite of what is on their plate." This didn't work. So, now we have the smile chart.
I'd love to say that I am only serving one selection at dinner now. But, I admit that I still cook one dinner for my husband and myself, and then modify it for the kids. But, whatever it is that we eat gets put on the kids' plates and they are required to take a taste of it. If they do this without a fuss, they get smile stickers for their charts. If they complain, whine, cry, or somehow fuss about what is on their plates they get grumpy stickers on their charts. If they refuse to eat it altogether, they go to bed.
It's been going on for just a week now. It's not a perfect system, and I'm sort of lenient about the "don't make a fuss rule"--they usually get one warning. But here are the foods that they tried:
Day 1: I made homemade baked macaroni and cheese (yummy...fontina, cheddar, parmesan, american, ritz cracker topping.) The kids eat boxed macaroni and cheese, and Asher will eat melted cheese in a grilled cheese sandwich. Both Hannah and Asher will eat melted cheese in a cheese quesadilla. And both will eat melted cheese on pizza (pizza is a whole other story!)
I gave each about 3 elbows macaroni's worth of mac & cheese on their plates, along with their plane buttered elbow noodles, hotdog and vegetable. Asher happily ate his mac & cheese (but didn't ask for more.) Hannah whined, cried, insisted that she didn't like cheesy things and refused to eat it. She eventually put a piece in her mouth, gagged on it, then gulped her milk and swallowed.
Outcome: Asher gets a yellow smile sticker, Hannah gets a blue grumpy sticker
Day 2: I made roasted chicken, roasted red skinned potatoes, and steamed asparagus. Hannah was in luck. She loves all of that. This left me in a quandary. Does she automatically get a sticker? Do I search for something to give her that isn't actually part of the meal? She got a sticker.
Asher has, in the past, insisted he doesn't like chicken--only chicken nuggets, store bought or homemade. So, I actually made him chicken nuggets and a vegetable that he likes. But, he was given 4 little bites of of chicken, one piece of potato and two little bites of asparagus stalk. It took an hour for him to finish his dinner and eat a bite of each of the "supposedly yucky" things. He eventually did it.
Outcome: Asher gets a blue grumpy sticker, Hannah gets a yellow smile sticker
Day 3: It's pizza night. Hannah has never liked tomato sauce. For years she just never ate pizza when I made it. But, recently she has learned to love "Hannah white pizza": olive oil, sprinkle of parmesan, sprinkle of mozzarella--not too much or it would be "cheesy", broccoli and black olives. Asher likes pizza with sauce and cheese only.
On this night I made a 1/2 and 1/2 Hannah/Asher pizza. When I cut it, some sauce got on to Hannah's slices. She was required to eat it without complaint. She complained...and complained.
Asher usually insists on having his pizza cut into bite size pieces. How annoying when you're at the pizzeria and all there is a plastic knife and fork. He was required to pick up his pizza slice and take bites. No problem.
Outcome: Asher gets a yellow smile sticker, Hannah gets a blue grumpy sticker
Day 4: My husband and I are going out and the in-laws are babysitting. They got takeout for themselves and the kids. But, I made the kids a salad to have, in addition to their takeout treat. Red pepper slices were included. Hannah immediately says, "Mommy, you KNOW I don't like red pepper." My response, "Everyone is required to try everything that is served to them." Hannah replies, "But, I DON'T LIKE RED PEPPERS!" Blue grumpy sticker status has been established. Asher has begun to enjoy the power he has when he can pick up a food, take a bite and say, "Mmmm...I like it." I think he says this sometimes, even if he doesn't. Just to get a rise out of his sister.
Outcome: Asher gets a yellow smile sticker, Hannah gets a blue grumpy sticker
Day 5: Penne with vodka sauce, garlic focaccia, roasted asparagus. Each child got a bowl of plain buttered penne, but also got three penne with the creamy tomato vodka sauce too. Hannah ate one piece of penne, gulped her milk and just continued on with her meal. With a little encouragement Asher put his sauced penne in his mouth, gagged, and spit it half way across the table. He got a smile sticker just because of the shear hilarity of the situation.
Outcome: Asher gets a yellow smile sticker, Hannah gets a yellow smile sticker
Day 6: Garlicky yumminess. It's time for baked shrimp scampi, rice pilaf, and cooked carrots. I didn't expect that the kids were going to gobble it up so I made them chicken nuggets to go with their rice and carrots. Besides...Paul and I love this dish so much I didn't want to share with the kids anyway. I sacrificed one buttery shrimp topped with tasty garlic/shallot/panko topping and cut it into four pieces. Each child got two small pieces on their plates. Hannah tasted it, smiled and said she kind of liked it but it was a "bit spicy on her tongue." (I used A LOT of garlic.) Asher whined, and actually shed tears. He put his to his tongue and insisted that that act constituted "tasting". Then he scrunched up his face and ate a piece at the last possible minute.
Outcome: Asher gets a blue grumpy sticker, Hannah gets a yellow smile sticker
Day 7: We had a family favorite tonight. Homemade crunchy baked chicken nuggets with creamy honey mustard sauce--the sauce isn't necessarily a kid favorite. I paired it with a chick pea salad that had chick peas, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, parsley, oregano, lemon juice and olive oil. The kids had little salads of chick peas, cucumbers, carrots, red peppers, no sauce. Hannah loves it all (well, as we learned above, all but the red pepper) but I also gave her a little scoop of the dressed salad which included 1 cucumber, 2 pieces of feta and a couple of chick peas. She ate hers with only a scrunch of the nose and a gulp of milk. She even took a nibble of the red pepper in her undressed salad. Asher had to be coerced to eat his chick pea. And then he said he liked it, so we coerced him into eating another one. We're getting a bit stricter so the coercion counted as "making a fuss" tonight.
Outcome: Asher gets a blue grumpy sticker, Hannah gets a yellow smile sticker
We'll see how this goes. The chart I set up has enough spaces for three weeks. Maybe the experiment will at least get my children to try things without complaint and possibly discover that they like things they never knew they liked.
Tomorrow will be a challenge...lasagna with homemade sauce. Sauce is a dirty word in my kids' lives.
