But I Smile Anyway…

So, good parents are supposed to ensure their children get their 5 portions of fruit and veg a day, or is it 7 now?

That’s all well and good when your child likes the stuff. My Lil Man, who incidentally is so slight he looks like he’s hardly fed, loves fruit and veg. He’ll happily ask for fruit as a snack, and tries all vegetables we give him. He has them western style, and in good old curry form too. Then runs around like a total loon, and works all he’s eats, off!

But what do you do when your kid is scared of fruit?! Yes, it’s Lil Princess again! When she was a baby, and it was the weaning fun time, I puréed everything, more varieties than when I had done the same with Lil Man, and she loved pretty much everything… Then I really don’t know what happened.

There had been no distressing situations or stand out incidents, involving fruit, but all of a sudden, all it took was Lil Man waving a banana at her, and she’d be screaming! He liked this new control, and when he wanted the sofa for himself, he’d ask for fruit, so she would choose to sit elsewhere!

When she started nursery and even school, she was offered fruit, and I was intrigued… Did she eat it, or was this just a home thing? But no, she politely declined there too (at least she used her manners there, instead of hollering!) but, the joys of working in the same school as where your children go, I’d get stopped at lunch or in the hallway by a colleague, “guess what? She tried banana/apple today!” It was as much an achievement for her teachers as it was for us at home!

We’ve progressed to school dinners, where I ‘think’ she’s eating more veg, and today she informed me she likes pineapple!

Total list of fruit and veg she will eat
1. Apple
2. Banana
3. Raisins (I know dried fruit, not real stuff, but still!)
4. Mango
5. Honeydew Melon
6. Pineapple
7. Satsumas
8. Carrots
9. Corn on the Cob
10. Peas

But, not with any regularity! Oh well, I guess I’ll have to be happy with what we’ve achieved so far, and just hope this list will extend, and that she’ll eat some every day!

(Oh yes, I’ve tried the old tricks, purée the veg n add in sauces… Then she picks pasta out and won’t eat the sauce!)

Do you have a fussy eater at home?