Wednesday 22 August 2012

My children's eating habits drive me insane.

My children's eating habits drive me insane. There ... I've said it. It's not that I don't try - but they are stubborn and bloody annoying.

Please forgive my swearing and frustration, but I have just cooked the most delicious chicken noodle soup for lunch and have been met with attitudes that would suggest I had just served up a pile of cat food. What, may I ask, is there not to like?? Chicken? Yes, they like that. Noodles? Yes, they like them. Soup? Yes, they like that. Ginger, coriander, spring onions?? Yes, they have eaten them in the past. But put them all together?? They hate it.

chicken noodles soup just like mine, courtesy of BBC Good Food 


Son #1 who is nearly 15 refused point blank to try it even until I shouted at him and threatened death. Then he ate one piece of chicken, one noodle and declared it was disgusting. Son #2, who is 12,  did reasonably well, saying that he liked it, but I have never seen such a performance of attempting to get noodles and chicken into a mouth. It involved spoon, fork, fingers. He would get enough noodles on the spoon, but the chicken piece would be, in his opinion, too big, too small ... Give me strength!!!

I am so bored with cooking for them. I always cook from scratch, use organic veg and free range meat. I do my best to cook tasty food. But Son #1 doesn't like ham, bacon, cream, cheese, salad. Son #2 doesn't like curry, spice, mince.

Yesterday I cooked chicken fajitas and made my own salsa ( delicious even if I do say so myself!) and I nearly fell off my chair when BOTH of them said it was yummy. Son #1 never eats tomatoes and he tucked into the salsa as though it was pure chocolate. This success was, however, a rarity.

So, what can I do? I am certainly not going down the route of smiley face oven chips and processed chicken nuggets. I just don't understand the fussiness, the lack of desire to try new things, to appreciate fresh flavours and good quality ingredients. My husband and I love food, love cooking, love trying new recipes, new ingredients. The children are getting worse.

I suppose I should be grateful that they do like some things. On holiday a friend's children would eat nothing more adventurous than pizza, whilst our boys were ordering duck medium rare. So maybe today is just a bad day and I shouldn't get so frustrated, but I hate cooking the same old things. Dull, dull, dull.

I am certainly not going down the route of cooking different food for different people. I cook one meal and if they don't like it - tough. Ok. Rant over.


5 comments:

Unknown said...

This is a very frustrating situation that I face too. I decided to introduce them to cooking once a week. The rules? It had to be cooked from scratch (pretty much) and therefore no fast-food. They were allowed to choose and then cook it. It gave them a taster of what it's like to have to cook and also it meant that at least one meal a week, they enjoyed it :)

Razmataz said...

It's likely the ginger.....my kids hated ginger until they were adults. I think it looks amazing.

FarmWife said...

If you figure out what to do with this, let me know! Mine only want to eat chicken nuggets and peanut butter. Ugh.

Kork said...

I'm with your friend Suzanne - make them be totally responsible to select and prepare, from ONLY THAT WHICH YOU ALREADY HAVE, one meal per week...

My folks didn't give us the opportunity to act that way when we were younger - we had to eat that which was prepared or go hungry.

Our rule with our kids is that they must eat 5 full bites (no drama allowed) of each dish at each meal. Then they have to wait for the next meal - no snacks, no treats, no desserts, and, if it gets past one meal of not eating, or of complaining, none of their special activities.

We also talk openly with them about families that don't have food, and how blessed we are...

I know, they're teenaged boys...its what they do, but "normal" is not always "acceptable".

hang in there - you'll either see a change in them, OR, you'll kill them before they make you completely crazy! :D

Urban Cynic said...

Tell them they're cooking a meal each a week. And make them do it. Then criticise each meal with each mouthful, make gagging noises, run over to the bin and spit it out before washing your mouth out with water.

The push their faces into the meal they've cooked and run off laughing. That should do it. Or tell them they have to donate 20% of their pocket money to a pizza each week. Or make them starve.

Don't put up with their nonsense!