Aug 12 2008
Miracle Food
Let me say right off the bat that I’m not a sneaky parent when it comes to getting my son to eat. I don’t have time to make some veggies, puree them up, and hide them in otherwise sugar filled snacks. I also don’t see that as a productive long term solution to teaching my son to enjoy veggies.
That said, I learned recently that the only way to get my son to eat eggs is to put catsup on them. This isn’t my own personal preference - it kind of grosses me out actually - but my husband does it and I’ve seen a lot of other people do the same thing. Coating those scrambled eggs in catsup seems an appealing weekend morning treat for at least some measure of the population.
I am ashamed to admit, however, that last night I desperately made use of the catsup factor in a much grosser display of culinary mixology. My son asked for rice for dinner (he loves rice). I had some left over from the night before so I heated it up, added some peas and some chicken and made a little stir fry that I was actually pretty proud of. After two bites my son lost interest and asked for Cheerios. I was more than a little annoyed. I begged, I threatened, and I tried to bribe but he wouldn’t touch the rice.
Totally exasperated I said “I bet if there was catsup on the rice you’d eat it then!” He perked up, “catsup? catsup, yum, yum.” Since no one else was home I did what I never thought I’d do. I put catsup on the stir fry. Just looking at it made my stomach turn but it worked. He loved it and he ate the rice, the peas, and the chicken - all covered with red, sticky goodness.
Yuck. Sometimes I wonder what has become of me?
