It Is All About The Presentation
August 1st, 2007 by FiddledeedeeMy two year old son, Jensen, is a reluctant diner. Frankly, I don’t think he eats enough to stay alive. But, the hernia he gives me every time I lift him, tells me he’s eating just fine. The boy is tipping the scales at close to 40 pounds. He’s built like a linebacker, and is strong as an ox. Just tonight he wrestled me to the floor when he didn’t want to be carried away from his beloved hotwheels and put to bed.
So, I’m pretty sure he’s getting enough nourishment.
But still, as a woman of southern descent, I still worry that he’s eating enough. It’s my heritage. My grandmother use to tell my mother that she must not be feeding her baby girl enough because that baby girl (me) looked “awful peaked (pronounced pee-kid, emphasis on the pee). My mother, finally having enough of her own mother’s parenting commentary, told her, “yes mother, I believe she may be dying.” Nanny never said another word.
Young Jensen hates most all foods. Especially if they’re green and good for you. He won’t go within 20 feet of a green bean. I could probably name on one hand the foods that he will actually eat. Try force feeding a 40 pound 2 year old who has a thirst for violence. I double dog dare ya’.
One food that he adores are McDonalds Chicken Nuggets. Don’t judge me. So, we’ve devised a rather duplicitous plan to get him to eat a better variety of foods. We’ve simply saved a McDonald’s chicken nugget box with accompanying bag. (This was one of Fiddldaddy’s better ideas.) Then, at dinner time, we present young Jensen with a nicely wrapped entree’ in a chicken McNugget box, which has been placed in the McDonald’s bag. And 9 times out of 10, he eats whatever is in the bag. With the exception of vegetables. He knows good and well that McDonald’s doesn’t serve vegetables. So, he thinks he’s hit the McDonald’s lottery at every single meal. 
This particular parenting style is called “Parenting By Deception.” And after birthing 3 children, it works for me.
For this weeks themed Works For Me Wednesday featuring “Great Parenting Advice”, or in my particular case, “A Little Tip To Save Your Sanity”, head over to Shannon’s at Rocks In My Dryer.
Posted in Works For Me Wednesday | 50 Comments »
August 1st, 2007 at 12:51 am
LOL!! That is pure genius.
August 1st, 2007 at 4:23 am
Great idea!! My little guy won’t eat much in the way of vegetables either, but he will drink juice, of course. So, I give him VFusion juice that has a full serving of vegetables in it, which makes me feel a little better.
August 1st, 2007 at 4:35 am
Ahhh, yes, the old “bait and switch” techique. My cousin did the same thing with her little guy except he would only eat McD’s hamburgers, so for supper, she would make him a hamburger and wrap it up in the paper wrapper. Like you say, it works nearly every time.
August 1st, 2007 at 6:03 am
Gee I have four kids, but I have never attained that height of cleverness. Honestly, I must be missing the creativity gene. I will stop back again for more parenting tips. Clearly, you have mastered the craft!
Blessings,
Hallie
August 1st, 2007 at 6:43 am
We’ll be doing this. Tonight.
Jack eats mac and cheese, hot dogs and nuggets. BUT they must be Tyson in the bag or McD’s or Wendy’s. Don’t ever (again) think about serving him Banquet brand.
When he was starting solid foods, he had a major texture issue. So we had to mix every new food with yogurt (gross) and serve it in the yogurt container. It worked! And I say…whatEVER works.
August 1st, 2007 at 7:32 am
no judgement out of this corner…I think it’s brilliant! We have friends that put their clocks forward an hour so their kids would go to sleep earlier.
August 1st, 2007 at 7:55 am
Hmmm…. good problem solving! My own son, at 19 months, seems to be very similar to yours in physical size and demeanor. Except that he will eat ANYTHING! At his 1 yr b-day party, he didn’t like his cake. He preferred broccoli! I LOVE that about him! He eats ANYTHING! Daughter is another story. Unfortunately she is too old at 4 yrs to fall for the McDonald’s bag trick, or I’d try it!
August 1st, 2007 at 7:57 am
LOL – too funny. I understand though, usually we have to call salmon “pink chicken” to get her to eat it. Same with ham – it’s “pink meat” and therefore wonderful tasting!
If it’s “pink,” it’s ok.
August 1st, 2007 at 8:12 am
ROFL – that is truly inspired!
August 1st, 2007 at 8:35 am
Wow! That’s a pretty good solution!! When youre a parent, the imagination kicks in!! I’m going to keep that little trick in mind!!
I’ve never really had one before my son was born, but you wouldn’t believe how he’s changed it! Well, I guess you would………
)
He’s even keeping in check my organizational skills.
August 1st, 2007 at 9:17 am
This is funny! They were giving samples of spinach nuggets at Costco. My 8 yo wouldn’t even try them, but it seemed like a great idea.
Btw, your link is messed up at WFMW.
August 1st, 2007 at 9:56 am
Ooh. Crafty.
And very, very funny.
August 1st, 2007 at 9:56 am
Wow, that is a good-sized boy you have there! My 19 month old weighs just over 20 lbs and is also a picky eater. My husband attributes it to his diet.
Since he had bowel surgery three times in his short life, he has had to be on a special high-fiber, no processed foods diet. Which is not easy when he refuses most veggies, let me tell you! He survived on bran crackers and raisins for a couple of weeks before he decided that tomatoes and chicken were ok.
Unfortunately, I have tried the McDonald´s trick and it doesn´t work. He only likes the bread off the burgers and since he isn´t allowed to have bread . . . well, I´ll have to come up with another idea! We´ve tried things like putting raisins on top of oatmeal or spreading peanut butter on bran crackers. He´s pretty sharp, though and usually catches us sneaking him good stuff!
August 1st, 2007 at 10:09 am
Whoa! My 3 yr old weighs only 30 lbs – looks like Jensen isn’t too picky. Another tip I’ve read says that kids need to see something on their plates at least 6 times before they’ll eat it. Amazingly, it’s that way with my kids! My WFMW is Sun Safety.
August 1st, 2007 at 10:19 am
Brilliant!
August 1st, 2007 at 10:27 am
Oh, you ARE good!!! I think if I tried it now, my 4 YO would laugh me out of house and home….
August 1st, 2007 at 11:12 am
Just FYI, Morning Star Farms makes cheese and broccoli or cheese and some other veggie snacks that look JUST LIKE chicken nuggets–my kids LOVE them.
August 1st, 2007 at 11:37 am
Totally with you on the force feeding the 40 pounder. It’s not worth it. Especially if they gag…
Ingeniously sneaky sanity saver.
You could market it.
August 1st, 2007 at 11:56 am
Brilliant, in kind of a wacko crazy kind of way.
August 1st, 2007 at 12:10 pm
How deceitful!
How underhanded!
How totaly clever & brilliant!
I can’t wait to try that.
August 1st, 2007 at 12:10 pm
I think its brilliant! My dd won’t eat chicken nuggets, though, or hamburgers, or chicken at all, or meat at all, except hot dogs and corn dogs.
If I could hide food in corn dogs I’d be set!
August 1st, 2007 at 12:19 pm
I bow before your parenting brilliance.
August 1st, 2007 at 12:31 pm
I love this!! My 4 year old sounds just like Jensen. He wouldn’t even eat the vanilla pudding I offered with lunch!!!! It’s dessert for crying out loud. If “parenting by deception” gets him to try new stuff I’mall for it. Thanks for the idea.
August 1st, 2007 at 12:48 pm
THis is fabulous. As a mother of another picky eater, I feel your pain. My 3 1/2 year old can spot a McDonalds miles away. I at least have trained her to order the apples instead of fries. Baby steps. Stop by and check out my WFMW if you get a chance. I talk about her pickiness too.
August 1st, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Pure genius!
August 1st, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Do you ever wonder what is going on in that little head of his? You are an amazing woman to even come up with this, much less execute this on a regular basis LOL
August 1st, 2007 at 12:58 pm
I am SOOOO gonna have to try that! LOL
August 1st, 2007 at 1:39 pm
THAT IS B R I L L I A N T!!
August 1st, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Brilliant! It sort of reminds me of when we’d give our 3 yr-old his mini-sized fishing pole to “fish” with. Only he never had a hook. Never. He’d cast and “fish” for hours on end. Yipee! Deception is the best parenting tool ever.
I wonder what deceptive practices my parents used on me. Hmmm.
August 1st, 2007 at 1:56 pm
lol! Loved that idea! Hilarious!
August 1st, 2007 at 2:34 pm
I am not worthy!! What happens when that child is now 8? I triple dog dare ya.
For entertainment we feed the youngest one a single piece of veggie and sit back and watch the show. The facial expressions, the gagging as well as the noise is rather funny. It’s when I have to pin him down and his dad forces the lone piece in is when it get interesting.
August 1st, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Alright–I about ruined another keyboard. That was just too good. I do not have enough brain cells to think up something like that.
Much applause!
Julie
August 1st, 2007 at 5:04 pm
I plan to practice this style of parenting for as long as it will work. Sadly, I’ve already discovered that fifteen-year-olds do not fall for such things.
August 1st, 2007 at 5:09 pm
that is an amazing little plan you’ve got going on. and quite hilarious too.
August 1st, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Hmmm… I also have a 2-year-old-pushing-40-pounds son. My aching back! Your plan is brilliant. Diabolical but brilliant!!!
August 1st, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Well, aren’t you and Fiddledaddy smarty pants! You gotta do, what you gotta do. My son was the same way. I swore then that he ate to live, whereas I lived to eat! Today he’s 33 with 3 children of his own…one of which sounds alot like your Jensen. We’ve tried everything…except your clever idea. Hmmmm….off to McDonald.
Hugs!
Kat
August 1st, 2007 at 8:39 pm
NICE!! This most definitley may work for me too…I am gonna try it with my daughter.
Mel
August 1st, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Too funny! My kids are old enough to know they won’t see a cookie or Klondike unless they eat their veggies, but I sure could have used your creativity when they were younger!
August 1st, 2007 at 9:45 pm
LOL You’ve successfully re-invented operant conditioning, just like Pavlov did with his dogs. Too funny.
August 1st, 2007 at 11:25 pm
No judging here. I’m one of those non-creative moms who, when my 2-year-old protests what’s on her plate, I tell her the following: “Ok. You don’t have to eat it, but I’m not making you anything else.”
Needless to say, after a missed meal once in awhile, she pretty much eats.
August 2nd, 2007 at 5:12 am
Sheer brilliance! My two year old will eat any snack in the goldfish container. But an “entree” container? Sheer brilliance. Must find entree container!
August 2nd, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Oh my WORD I have to try that.
August 2nd, 2007 at 2:51 pm
I saw Mrs. H comment about calling salmon “pink chicken.” That cracks me up, because it was my mom’s bright idea to call hamburger/beef “brown chicken” when my son was a toddler, just to get him to try it. And yes ma’am, it worked!
August 2nd, 2007 at 7:21 pm
That really is brilliant. I am soooo trying that in my house.
August 2nd, 2007 at 10:03 pm
ROTFL!! My oldest son (almost 14) is ultra picky. Stuff he used to like he won’t even eat now. So I can totally relate, although I haven’t tried anything that creative! I’ll have to file that away for future use, though. LOL!!
August 3rd, 2007 at 4:57 am
We are currently having the food wars at our house shown in full color with several blog posts highlighting their refusal to try anything new.
It has taken 3 days of refusing to eat anything to get my 4 year old to even eat a chicken nugget. But amazingly enough, none of the 4 are down to skin and bones.
August 7th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Funny!!
August 7th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Now you’ve got the science to back you up…
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/08/06/mcdonalds.preschoolers.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch
August 8th, 2007 at 6:06 am
I read your post last week and laughed, because my cousin used “parenting by deception” as well, packaging her son’s hamburgers up in McD’s wrappings to get him to eat. This morning when I got up, I had the following article in my news folder and I couldn’t help but think of you.
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2007/08/07/mcdonalds-advertising.html
August 8th, 2007 at 7:16 am
I love it!!! I wish it would work for my son with taste-texture super-powers.