How I Deal with a Picky Kid, part I: the lies

D is a picky kid.  It's genetic.  I was a picky kid.  My dad was a picky kid.  I remember having total anxiety over what was being made for dinner - would I like it, would I be forced to eat it, would I go hungry?  My parents were not consistent in dealing with my picky-habits, so I never really knew what was going to happen next.  There were times were I was sent to my room without dinner, times where my mom made me a PB&J instead, and there were even a few times when I was spanked for my disobedient (not eating) behavior. 

I didn't want to repeat any of those mistakes with my son.  So I came up with my own strategy: LYING THROUGH MY TEETH. 

When D only liked chicken, all meats were chicken.  Shrimp was chicken.  Steak was chicken.  Now D likes shrimp.  So salmon, scallops, and other seafood is called “shrimp.”  Once he has eaten the new food a few times (and likes it), I change the name back to its original.  You see the pattern.  Now rinse and repeat. 

Foods that are still in liar-liar land:

• Rice cakes are cookies.  Yummy yummy “BIG cookies” (I buy the caramel or sweet ones)
• Yogurt is melting “ice cream.  Hurry and eat it before it makes a mess!”
• Rye bread is “chocolate toast” (bet you never thought of that one!)
• Salmon is really “shrimp.”  Flat shrimp with no tail, in fact.
• Just Peas are “green cracker-balls.”  OK, so I was off my game that day. 

Yes, I am a big fat liar.  But my kid isn’t just eating cheese and Goldfish crackers for dinner.