How to Get Your Kid to Eat... But Not Too Much

As I said when I finished Food Chaining, I have a picky eater. He's not as picky in as the children in that book but I think he may be pickier than the children in How to Get Your Kids to Eat... But Not Too Much by Ellyn Satter. I found the advice in Food Chaining too extreme and I find the advice in this one not extreme enough.

Basically, Satter's premise comes down to this: "It's my job to give him healthy meals and snacks but it's his job to eat it." It sounds simple enough and maybe by reading these two books I've decided that my son's eating really isn't so much of a problem. I'm learning to let him do his thing and since I've done that he's started putting different foods in his diet and he's starting to eat a bit more. It's making meal times less stressful so I'll give it that.

The other thing I took out of this book is scheduled snack times. Maybe he's just not hungry when he comes to the table. I'm trying to work snacks into a schedule but I don't want to be too quick to do so. I'd rather he not notice that there seems to be something changing.

I'm hoping that the book has helped me to be a better parent with food. I know it's an issue for me and I don't want it to be an issue for my boys too. I'll give it a 3.

The Sneaky Chef

As I've mentioned before I have a very picky eater. I really want him to eat better. I'm investigating methods to help him overcome his pickiness but in the meantime I'd still like to get some nutrients into him. And that's why I picked up The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine.

I'm not adverse to lying to my kids to help them get through something. I've told them about the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. I've stretched the truth about something they wouldn't understand. I've done what I can to help them, or to make their childhood magical. Sneaking vegetables into their diet is nothing.

One of the things that I liked about this book is that it not only sneaks in vegetables, it also sneaks in whole grains and sneaks out sugar and fats. It's about much more than the vegetable purees. Some of the recipes look really good too.

I haven't tried to make anything yet, but I'm looking forward to it. I'll give it a 4.

Cooking Rocks! 30 Minute Meals for Kids

One of the things I thought I'd try to help my son overcome his limited diet was to cook with him. What I really needed was a cookbook aimed at kids, with quick recipes and the ability to lay flat on the counter. Rachael Ray's Cooking Rocks! just might be that book.

The recipes look tasty but I think we'll have to start with some of the sweeter stuff to get him interested. I do wish that more pictures of the finished product had been included so that he'd be able to pick the recipe from what it looked like rather than how it sounded.

I'm excited anyway. I'll give it a 3 pending an actual trial of a recipe.

Food Chaining

My 5 year old son is a picky eater. He's not as picky as the children in Food Chaining: The Proven 6-Step Plan to Stop Picky Eating, Solve Feeding Problems, and Expand Your Child's Diet by Cheryl Fraker, Mark Fishbein, Sibyl Cox and Laura Walbert. There were a few things that I can take from this book. I can certainly think about better scheduling of his meals and snack times. I can get a better feel for the types of foods he likes and use that to expand his choices but that's about it.

I found myself skipping large portions of the book because it didn't apply to our situation. There's a lot of focus on underlying problems causing some kind of problem but my child doesn't have any of those issues. Even narrowing it down to a specific type of food isn't that helpful because he's got foods that he'll eat at his grandmother's house but won't touch here and vice versa.

There's also a lot of focus on babies and toddlers. My son was an excellent eater until he was about 3. Then he just started deciding he didn't like things. His diet had dropped down to just whole wheat bread and water but we were able to work it back up to be better balanced. When he started dropping out foods again I thought I'd try to find a way to stop the behaviour before he dropped too many. This book won't help me do that.

I also didn't like the focus on junk food. I don't want to introduce him to unhealthy food to get him to eat healthy food. I was hoping there'd be better advice on how to get fruits, vegetables and meats into his diet but he doesn't like McDonald's Chicken McNuggets and I'm fine with that.

I would've liked more food chain examples for more varieties of food. A better description of their food "types" so that I could figure out if it's a taste thing with him or something else. All in all I'm a little disappointed and can only really give this one a 2.