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Kids meals vs. grown up meals

7 years ago

Do you make separate meals for your kids or do they eat the same thing that the grownups eat? I find that I am missing more flavorful food in favor of having everyone eat the same meals. I tend to make it a little simpler and blander, so kids can eat it too.

What do other people do? Same food? Totally separate food? Give the kids the spicy stuff too? :P

Comments (4)

sushipup1
7 years ago
Same food. How else will they learn about different foods? They don't like something? They can have more of the other items. Most of us over 60 grew up when our parents would never have dreamed of cooking separately for us (except when the grown-ups got great steaks, and we got burgers, but that''s another story.) Doesn't anyone remember having to stay at the table without dessert until we ate our peas?

Depending on ages, you might tone down very spicy things, but my kid loved all things Mexican from an early age, and gradually took it hotter and hotter.
colleenoz
7 years ago
Make what you want to eat. If the kids are hungry, they'll eat it. A friend told me years ago that she would tell her kids if they turned up their noses at dinner, "You know where the cereal is." It works :-)
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Renee Texas
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Same food. Including jalapenos, spices, whatever. We may start theirs "watered down" with more rice or tortilla, etc, but they soon get up to adult level- and enjoy serving themselves! Our friends from Nigera cook with habenaros as one their primary ingredients/ethnic foods, and their little 1 and 2 year olds eat it with delight! Breastfeeding, as well, allows many flavors and spices to pass through, which allows the child to adapt to the flavor profile of their culture/family before even starting solids.

When we start solids- around 11mo for all 4 of mine- I never held back with spices. Potatoes were always served with cinnamon, salsa had all the jalapenos and whatnot, etc.

My big kids, if they didn't like what we were having, always had the option of making themselves a big breakfast the next morning. Skipping a meal or three never seemed to hurt any of them.
H B
7 years ago
We have varied, but if serving foods that I suspect my kids (12, 14) might not enjoy (sometimes they sincerely don't care for the dish, like anyone might), we'll make sure to have one item that they will eat. We do take an interest in food; they have helped their Grandparents grow, tend to, and harvest food, and I think that helps form an interest. I think there's a balance in that its just food (its not a power struggle); ideally one wants their children to determine if/when they are hungry and eat to address that (and not just to clean a plate, etc.) as well as to have an interest in trying new foods. We enjoy trying many different kinds of foods; my husband gets quite excited about that, and that rubs off on the kids. Obviously kids from different cultures grow up eating quite different foods (some very spicy, seasoned, textured, cooked or not, etc.). So it would seem its some what of a matter of what the family serves and eats. My kids enjoy some quite spicy Indian, Asian and Cal-Mex foods.

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