O.K. Here goes. My son is 8 years old. He has always been a picky eater, but I thought he would grow out of it. I was wrong. His diet consists of chicken nuggets, fries (both baked, I refuse to give in to the frying in grease), waffles (no butter or syrup), poptarts (i only give these occasionally), crackers, bread, and sometimes cantaloupe and apples, grape juice, milk and water. I've begged, bribed, threatened, used positive reinforcement and reasoned to absolutely no avail. I do not have the heart to say "You have to eat what we do or go hungry", but maybe we're to the point of having to do that. He will eat sweets (surprise,surprise) but I really limit those to an occasional treat. I've spoken with pediatricians and dr's and they say to give him a good vitamin and don't worry about it. I bought that when he was younger, but he is 8 years old now. He has had several colds this year, had strep 3 times last year, and I'm wondering if this is all because his immune system is lowered because of the limited diet. Also, I'm wondering if he has some kind of eating disorder. :confused: Any advice, thoughts or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

I have two that are very picky, One dose not like hardly any meat and the other is just picky. They do eat fruit, salads and yogurt , one loves grapes, I would tell your son the reason your so sick all the time is because your not eating the good foods which consist of vitamins and iron, You need to start taking care of yourself, your getting older now and this is what an older boy has to start thinking about. Make him think he is a little grown up with responsibilities, some times it's all how word it, I have four kids and they all are different but I have also learned that somethings you cannot demand them to do, you have a to be a little smarter and word things in a special way.
Karen W. :p

By now, you have set the tone that your son doesn't have to eat what you tell him/ask him/urge him to eat. It's too late to undo that. Have a conversation with his doc, tell the doc you need his/her support to instill better eating habits in your son. Take your son to the doc and have the doc tell your son he needs to eat X, Y, Z. Then provide the new foods the doc said he must eat. Limit the stuff you don't want him to eat. Don't use dessert or sweets as a reward (not saying you are/were, just don't do it now).

I just read your post to my nine-year old. He says to stop buying the things that you don't want your child to eat. Just keep small portions in a place your 8-year old can't get by himself, then tell him that he can't have the goodies until he eats some of the healthful foods for a period of time. My son says that he would try some broccoli for a cookie or a treat. He has never tried broccoli but says he would try it for a sweet. My son says the condition has to be that he eat one whole piece of broccoli (or whatever) for a cookie, etc... :angel:

I just had to addend my earlier post; my son was watching as I typed and I certainly didn't want to say anything negative about him then. Next to my niece, who didn't even like fruit, my 9 year old is the pickiest kid I've ever seen! That is why I read your post to him. I thought it would be easier to examine his own behavior in view of someone else's experience. Interestingly, later today we went out to eat at an all-you-can-eat pizza place. There was a salad bar there, and when I got a piece of broccoli and brought it to the table HE ATE IT! I couldn't believe it! The whole thing! He said, "I just always thought broccoli would taste really horrible, and it really just doesn't have much taste at all!" We talked about different ways that people fix it to give it more taste, and he decided he would try it again sometime dipped in cheese sauce, or ranch dip. Maybe cooked with some butter and salt. I could never have gotten him to eat that broccoli on my own, but by him reading about another kid having the same issues, he was able to disengage a bit, and think, "Well, is it really so horrible to eat a ________?" I don't know, but your story helped me today, and that is why we are here, isn't it? FYI: My son probably doesn't eat as much variety as your kiddo, and my son did not miss one single day of school this past school year. We live in the country and he runs around barefoot all afternoon and sometimes, if he doesn't want to eat what we have fixed, I just tell him to eat whatever, but I'm not fixing it! I try to keep baby carrots, apples, grapes or bananas around, and my kids do drink a LOT of milk (my 15 year old has NEVER missed a day of school since kindergarten). I think it is just genetic, or where you live, or something that has less to do with what you eat than you might think. Some kids just have a lot of childhood illnesses. Some have a lot of sore throats, others have a lot of ear aches. My mother's family has a lot of diabetes (and we know that is lifestyle related) and so I'm all about avoiding sugar and getting lots of exercise. I talk to my kids about white bread, sugar, and insulin. This is not going to help them right now maybe, but hopefully when they are 40+ they won't be taking shots. If your doc said give him a vitamin and don't worry about it, then that's worth consideration. Keep talking about healthy food choices, as well as healthy lifestyles, and some day he will try to do it because he wants to (or he won't;)). The stress and worry of it may cause both of you more illness than the food choices!

Best wishes, and good luck!

YEAH!!!! Out of the mouths of babes.. THats fantastic.... you know what, we learn to pick our fights as parents..LOL Congrats... Maybe we need to give them more credit for caring for themselves.

I have a picky eater, and the best advice I ever got was to put out healthy foods on the table while supper is cooking. I'll usually put raw veggies,,,carrots, cukeumbers, whatever. Then while my kids are asking for snacks before supper's ready, I just tell them they can have what's on the table for now. Also, try not to make a big deal of what he doesn't eat. I have 3 kids and they all like different things. But when it's time to eat, supper is whatever i've made and that's it. We pretty much have some kind of meat, rice or potatoes and a veggie. I figure that way, everybody's going to eat something. I also have a strict rule that fruit is their bedtime snack. It guarantees that they will have fruit at least once a day. It's part of our routine and they expect it every night. It also eliminates a sugar rush before bedtime.
hope that helps!!

Wow! Thank all of you sooo much for your suggestions. Texanne, I'm really glad it helped out your son, and yes, the point of all of this is to help each other out. As soon as I get home, I'm going to read your son's suggestion to him. Kids seem to take advice from other kids a lot more than they do adults.