Wasabi

My eldest daughter (4.5) is a picky eater. Like many parents, I struggle to get a decent amount of vegetables into her; especially the green ones. For months she will love something and then, out of no where, she'll declare it "yucky". I have to be creative and patient. Most of all, I cannot engage into a power struggle with her. And, yes, this is incredibly difficult at times.

The upside of her pickiness is her willingness to try almost all foods. I attribute this to our rule that she never has to eat anything she doesn't like. We'll even let her spit things out. All she has to do is try it.

I used to be an avid sushi lover. When she was a baby, I went out of my way to make sure she was comfortable eating sushi restaurants. We even asked that a good friend of the family buy her a book about sushi for her first birthday. She eats the same thing every time we go, but the point is that there are items on the menu in a sushi restaurant that she wants to eat.

Tonight, she asked to go for sushi. It was just the two of us and although I wasn't really in the mood, what Mom in their right mind turns down their 4 year old asking to go for sushi? As usual, she ate her avocado roll. To be honest, I wasn't really paying attention to her. I think I was daydreaming and looking out the window when I looked up and see the panicked expression all of her face. Her eyes are watering and clearly, she's scared. I look down and see that she's eaten the entire glob of wasabi. Poor kid, she thought it was avocado.

In the seconds that proceeded running to the bathroom and cleaning out her mouth, I had another "a-ha" moment when it comes to kids and eating. I've always said part of the reason kids are picky is because they aren't working from the same frame of reference we are. I can look at a red pepper and know that I don't like it. You can tell me there is dill in something, and I know I don't want it. I know that Indian food doesn't work well for me. Kids can't do this. They HAVE to trust us to guide them. If we constantly force them to eat things they don't like, why would they willingly eat "just one bite?"

If you want your kids to trust you when it comes to food, you can't force them to eat. All you can do is model the behavior you want them to have, and trust that after seeing you eat your spinach 4000 times, they'll eventually ask for some, too. Just make sure you remember to teach them the difference between wasabi and avocado.