I Liked Creamy Peanut Butter Last Week, This Week I Only Like Crunchy

Picky eating is one issue that I think almost every parent has had. Whether your child only likes foods of certain colors, only seems to like five specific foods, or changes their preferences depending on the day of the week; getting children to eat a balanced meal (or even a meal at all) can be a real struggle. Sometimes you might even think that your child is surviving only on air.

I have a strong memory of making a sandwich for my daughter for lunch. She took one bite and put it down with a sigh (of frustration, irritation, disbelief-who knows) . Clearly it wasn’t meeting her expectations. When I asked what was wrong, she said, “I don’t like peanut butter”. I replied, “You have a peanut butter sandwich all the time.” To which she replied (with great exasperation), “Mom, last week I liked peanut butter that was creamy but this week I only like the crunchy kind. This is the creamy kind.” I had no words beyond, “Okay, but we don’t have the crunchy kind so this is your only option for today.”

Seems funny now, but in those mealtime moments, I truly felt like I didn’t know what to expect each time we sat down. I felt like all the control was in their hands and there was very little I could do to make a difference. All I was doing was bringing my own frustration to the table and that wasn’t doing anyone any good.

Eventually, desperation kicked in and I figured out a way to have fun AND to bring God into the center of that meal. I would retell stories from the Bible with the food on their plate playing a central role. This provided an opportunity first to relax a bit (not add so much pressure on getting them to eat). It also allowed me to have them try some of the foods out in a fun way. Below are a couple of the stories that I used. Some of these we still joke about today!

Adam and Eve

As we were sitting together at meal time, I shared the story of Adam and Eve. We talked about how God asked Adam to give a name to everything in the Garden of Eden. Pretending like the plate was the Garden, I asked them what would they name one of the items on the plate. For example, if we had broccoli, they made up a silly name like “moccoli.” After naming everything, we made up stories about what things were like in the Garden. One that we still joke about is broccoli (or moccoli) being a tree that had monkeys on it. To get them to take a bite of the “moccoli” I would say, “Oh no, better take a bite quickly so that the monkey can’t escape.” It worked every time!

Noah’s Ark

After sharing the story of Noah and the Ark, we would talk about how God asked Noah to put two of all living creatures on the ark. Then I asked them to think about what it must have been like to get all of those animals on the ark. We talked about how they might have carried some, led some, even pushed some. Next, we pretended like our mouth was the ark and the food on the plate was what we needed to get on the ark. They would take turns saying what the piece of food was and what they had to do to get it on the ark. One that I remember were mushrooms, which became toads they rode on as they hopped into the ark!

Joshua and the Battle of Jericho

At mealtime, we talked about the story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho. I had them rearrange the food on their plate to make a circle or square to represent the wall. Then we got up and walked around the table 6 times with nothing happening. After that, we walked around the seventh time. After they completed the seventh round, I would have them pretend to blow their trumpet and then they would have to “catch” a piece of the “wall” that was falling. For example they might eat a bite of a carrot so that it wouldn’t “land” on someone. There was lots of screaming and laughing as we made sure to keep Joshua and the Israelites safe from the falling wall!

These are fun memories made with the hope that mealtime wouldn’t be stressful and that they would try a couple of bites of different veggies and other healthy foods along the way.

Drop a comment if you try any of these activities and let me know if they help with the mealtime madness. If you enjoy this blog, hit subscribe to receive notifications on when the next one is out.

Be on the lookout for next week where I will be reflecting on parenting in the mess. I look forward to hearing from you!