Picking apart dinners

For a few years now my family has had a special tradition on Wednesdays: We let our son pick dinner. When he was younger, this meant that we usually ate at one of his favorite restaurants. But now that he is older, he actually cooks dinner for the family every other week.

And, now that he is cooking dinner, he has been open to eating more foods.

Like many parents, I struggled with encouraging my son to eat a wider variety of foods (mostly vegetables). We tried to outline our expectations for family meals, relaxed more often at the dinner table, talked about the food's connection to our overall health and left it in his view so he could become accustomed to its presence and hopefully get curious enough on his own to try it.

None of that worked long term.

And then, we stopped all efforts. Mostly because we were tired of working a full day and needed to just focus on getting the food on the table. But then we switched gears and started giving our son cooking lessons. And now he likes celery.

Go figure.

So, for any parents of picky eaters out there, let me assure you that there is hope (at least for some foods). Keep in mind that your child may never learn to love broccoli and that doesn't make you a bad parent.

In the meantime, please pass the celery.

What food will your child simply refuse to eat? Tell me in the comments.