Why Would I do this to Myself?

Mealtimes with a toddler. One of life’s most frustrating obstacles.

Well, if you care for them to eat healthily that is or have a diet that consists of more than just processed meat and potato based products from a freezer. My son is an unsolvable riddle when it comes to mealtimes; one day he’ll eat three servings of one dish and declare it to be his “most favourite food - ever!”, yet the next time this same dish is served to him he’ll act as though he’s having a nightmare and whimper pitifully with tears in his eyes as he pushes the plate across the table. He utterly detests onions - but only if they’re visible in a meal. He won’t even look at guacamole because the word sounds too much like macaroni, which he loathes. He likes cooked carrots, so long as they’re not circular in shape (and don’t even get me started on the shape of pasta). Vegetables are greedily wolfed down and stolen from chopping boards but if they’re mixed together (eg. a stir fry) it’s the end of life as we know it... It is a never ending list of small food gripes that are made up in his head wherever and whenever he fancies it. It’s the frustration of slaving over a cooker for three hours, to place a meal down in front of your child with a proud smile, only to hear the sentence every parent dreads: “I don’t like that, mummy, I won’t eat that”.

A fortnight ago, my son asked every day for an entire week to have ‘mince and tatties’ for his tea. Eventually I bought the ingredients and put them in a slow cooker for four hours but when they were served to my angelic four year old, he responded with “...and what the HECK is THAT supposed to be?”. He didn't eat a bite of the requested meal he has scoffed many, many times before.The same with a curry his dad has made him from scratch often, since he was old enough to eat, which is a carefully practised home-made combination of herbs and spices - and once my son’s favourite dish. Two days ago when this was served to him, he focused on a microscopic piece of coriander, cried and cried into the curry with his nose inches above it, and declared dramatically that he had never liked it and would never eat it again.

So I have decided to create this blog. I am sick of being forced into eating the same bland meals as my fussy child night after night, excluding ingredients that he does actually like just to avoid the hide and seek battle of concealing them within the dish. So I intend to cook some new, fresh ideas for meals that I have not necessarily tried before in a bid to encourage him to try new foods, and consistently change our mealtimes up so he can’t get stuck in a rut, tantruming over the same foods. If anything, it’ll be fun to cook some new, healthy meals - even if I do get them thrown back in my face. Literally.