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From birth my son was a finicky eater. At the hospital, I
could not get him to drink his required 4 ounces of milk so
that he could be released and brought home. He simply didn't
like it. When I managed to get him home I tried all kinds of
milk finally out of desperation I tried homogenized milk,
two parts water, one part milk. It was the only thing that
he would drink.
When it was time to introduce new foods to his diet, he
simply would not eat them. The doctor told me mix up his egg
in his baby food he won't know the difference. He knew the
difference. He wouldn't eat it.
By the time he was 3 years old, not only would he not eat
his food but if a fly landed anywhere near the food
preparation area or dinner table he didn't want anyone else
to eat their food either.
At three years old, my son received his first real lesson
about how our food chain works. It was an experience that
horrified him.
During the week my son stayed with his great grandparents
while his father and I worked. We took him home on the
weekends. His great grandparents had gold fish. Steven loved
to watch the gold fish and even enjoyed feeding them. But
one day he got the shock of his young life.
My grandfather was eating a sardine sandwich!
Steven was horrified. He screamed "no, no, don't eat my
fishy's". Every attempt to console him and to explain to him
that sardines were not the gold fish swimming in the
aquarium did not work. My son would not listen.
He forbade my grandfather to eat that sandwich. My
grandfather not being the tender hearted mother or
grandmother, refused to succumb and Steven ran to his room
crying his little eyes out. He wouldn't talk to his great
granddad for about two hours after that.
Today Steven is 26 he still will not eat fish!
Time moved on and Steven would only eat two kinds of
meat, beef and chicken, however, it had to be done per his
instructions. For example, Steven loved McDonald's and would
eat hamburgers until they came out of his ears. Yet, do not
try to feed him a hamburger patty (beef patio) without the
bun because he just would not eat it.
I had the hardest time trying to make lunches for him
when he started school. The only thing this child would take
was wieners smothered in ketchup. Wieners for Americans are
hotdogs or frankfurters. Steven refused to eat sandwiches,
he refused to eat vegetables, he refused to eat almost
everything. So for about 4 years of his school life he ate
wieners for lunch at school.
Oh I tried my hardest to sneak in different foods only to
find that one day the secretary called me at work to accuse
me of not providing a lunch for my son. "What are you
talking about I said, I pack his lunch fresh for him every
morning".
Apparently he would open the lunch box on the school bus
and if he didn't like what was there he would throw it away
before he got to school.
After the not so pleasant conversation with the school
secretary where I admit I did give her a piece of my mind, I
laid down the law, he had to take his full lunch to school
and if he didn't want it then he could just leave it there
and I would throw it out when he got home. Now you know why
he got wieners for four years straight!
My son did not win on every occasion, I did have the last
say at least on one occasion. For example, Steven refused to
eat spaghetti unless it was a can of Chef Boyardee. My
homemade spaghetti was just not good enough for him.
Similarly, whenever we visited my friend Coreen, the rest of
us would sit down at the table to eat and eat whatever she
provided but Steven wouldn't eat a thing. I would tell her
not to worry about him, he would eat a peanut butter
sandwich and be happy. One day though she was serving
spaghetti. She started to prepare a plate for him and as
usual I told her not to bother, he didn't like spaghetti. By
this time Coreen was a bit unnerved by my son's poor eating
habits and she said to me "not this time". She told him, "I
worked hard to prepare this good food for you and your
mother, and you know what, you are going to sit down at the
table like the rest of us and you are going to eat this
spaghetti, just like the rest of us, otherwise you are never
going to come to my house again, do you understand young
man". I was apprehensive, I thought there was going to be a
showdown, but guess what, there wasn't. Steven actually sat
there and ate it.
Coreen had opened the door for me, and I was going to
take advantage of it!
Okay young man I said, if you can eat Coreen's spaghetti,
you can eat mine, don't ever tell me you don't like
spaghetti anymore.
Thanks to Coreen a new food was introduced to my Steven's
less than acceptable diet. I think it was the only time I
ever won when it came to food.
Where vegetables were concerned I was far less
successful. This child refused to eat any vegetables with
the exception of corn, peas, or raw carrots, if I cooked
them he wouldn't eat them.
Steven was now six years old, and there was nothing I
could do to get him to eat vegetables. Every meal time was a
battle zone at our house. I figured that if I just got him
to taste vegetables he may eventually acquire the taste for
them. So each night I would put a different vegetable on his
plate and tell him to just eat one or two pieces and I would
be happy. I never succeeded. For spinach, he told me he
wasn't eating grass, for cauliflower he wasn't eating
flowers, so on and so forth.
Finally one night I served him mushrooms and we had our
usual battle at the table. "I want you to eat two pieces of
mushrooms" I said, "I am not going to eat mushrooms I don't
like them he responded". How do you know you don't like them
you have never tried them before I said". I don't like them
you can't make me eat them" he again responded.
Okay enough of this sparring back and forth, now was the
time to get out the big guns so I thought.
If you don't try these mushrooms there will be no dessert
for you
I don't care!
No TV
I don't care!
I am going to send you to bed right this minute
I don't care you can't make me eat mushrooms, I hate
mushrooms!
Off to bed he went, he never finished his supper, no
dessert, and no TV which he loved so much. This kid was
determined he wasn't going to eat mushrooms.
The crisis was over, I forgot about the mushrooms and
life went on.
One entire week later it was meet the teacher evening. I
was shown all the children's artwork which was exhibited on
all the walls of the classroom. Each of these 6 year olds
prepared something and the teacher would write a caption
under their artwork. The theme was to draw and say something
that made them feel happy.
For example one drawing was a smiley face that said have
a happy day, another was a rudimentary drawing of a man,
saying "I am Batman". Lord knows you needed the caption to
figure what some of these drawings were.
Then it came time to see my son's artwork. I looked at
the picture on the wall and all I could see were the words I
HATE MUSHROOMS.
The teacher looked at me and said that she wanted to ask
me about this. She had the hardest time getting Steven to
draw anything happy, and when he finally draw his scribble
on the paper this very morning, he would not tell her what
it meant, all he would say is I hate mushrooms.
The mushroom incident was a week before. I thought that
it was over and done with, but apparently not for my little
six year old. I had no way of knowing that the mushroom
incident was still at the forefront of my son's thoughts. I
felt so guilty, I decided there and then never to ask him to
eat mushrooms or any other vegetables again.
?© 2003 Carol Roach
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May you be blessed today
Bob Johnston
Editor / Publisher
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