This little guy is the pickiest of eaters!! His brother will eat and has always eaten what ever we have given him. On the particular day this picture was taken, Konnor asked for frosted flakes with milk. I was shocked when he asked, I was more shocked when he actually ate most of the small bowl I gave him. I had to snap a picture of him eating just so my husband would believe that he really did eat the cereal!!
He ate a variety of baby foods as an infant/toddler without much fuss but when he began eating more solid forms of these food, he would grimace and refuse. I talked with his pediatrician and we agreed is must be a texture issue with the foods. She said not to push him into eating them, and to keep offering. One day he would catch on and begin to eat them just like he has before. Kon is 3 1/2 years old now, and has not caught on yet!!
Last year, I began to get more concerned about his diet and nutrition and began adding pediasure side kickers juice boxes. He likes the taste, and I like he is filling in the vary glaring gaps in his nutrition but the juice boxes range from $7-9 and come in four or six packages. The manufacturer puts coupons on their website on a pretty regular basis however, even with a $2 off coupon a four-pack is still $5.00!! We typically purchase 2-six packs for the week, and Kon gets one daily and every other day he gets a second one.
I shudder every time I pick up the juice boxes and put them into my cart because $14.00( with coupons!) is outlandish to pay for juice boxes and I know I am getting railroaded by the manufacturer who is mostly likely making 81-83% return on their investment with each package we buy. Sigh, my boys health and nutrition is more important than how I feel about the way American companies are so self-absorbed that they raise the price more than it deserves to be over and over again, and then Americans wonder why so many things are sent to foreign countries where things are made for reasonable prices. I would love to support more items made in the Country I love and live in, but it is so hard when you are a one income family trying to purchase items on a budget and when the items from China fit into your budget more than the items that were made down the street, the greediness of the upper management's of these companies hurts my heart deeply.
How can I teach my boys to support the country their papaw fought for, and their great-grand father fought for and many, many others fought and died for when the manufacturers who work in this country refuse to support its people by price gouging on items that mom's like me, need for their kids?? Maybe if executive's, politicians and even a celebrity or two would live of off a reasonably, modest income ( seriously anything over 200k a year..and that is still being generous..meets every need you have and most of your wants) then maybe they could relate more to their consumer's.
Wow..talk about a tangent huh???
Anyway!
With St. Patrick's day fastly appoarching, I thought of doing a Rainbow Dinner to maybe help Kon make the connection of healthy fruits and veggies fun and being good for you!!
As I looked for the fruits and veggies in the rainbow colors, I ran across this article about 10 differant colors of foods kids love. The article was so interesting, I had to pass it along! On the website, I also found another good article on Picky Eaters. These articles are written of nanny's but the information is useful and interesting just the same. I also the links to other articles as well.
I will post pictures of the dinner and how it is recieved from my little picky eater, but we are talking it up and will be going a St. Patrick's Day rainbow craft on Saturday in prepation for the "big" dinner.
You paint your child's hand with rainbow colors and press it on the paper. I have also in the past, allowed Korbin to color his hand with markers and then pressing it to the paper. The markers where when he was older and did not need me to watch over him as much, and just needed me to get him started. With Kon, I will most likely use the paints. Which option you use is up to you!! Because of food allergies, we do not use the chocolate coins the craft orginally called for as you would eat the coins and then use the wrappers on the paper. We use the gold wrappers from the Hersey's Nuggets, if I can find the ones with the gold wrappers. If not, I will go to the craft store and use gold stars. It is fun either way.
Of course if this is too much for you, you can always fall back on dividing friut loops into colors and making a rainbow necklace. Measure your child's neck with string of any kind, and then pour the fruit loops into a large bowl. I always divide the fruit loops into an initial pile, so they can see how many different colors there are and then help them get started. This is a fun craft to do and eat!!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!
~Kristy~
