The Exception To The Rule

We have a rule in our house that if I serve something for dinner, the wee ones have to try it. It’s ok if they don’t like it, but they at least have to try said item.

And by trying, I don’t mean putting your tongue somewhere in the vicinity of the fork and deciding you don’t like it. Trying means actually putting a piece, even if it’s fairly miniscule, into your mouth and chew and swallow it.

I had to instate this rule after some of the wee ones’ favorite foods were vetoed. As in “Mommy, this is YUCKY!” when a week before they had tried and loved it. And when I made them try the food again, shockingly, they loved it again. It’s also been a great way to get them to eventually like new foods like salmon and edamame, which took lots and lots of trying and not liking before they finally liked it.

For Mister Man, this has sometimes been a challenge, and there are some foods I know not to make him try. He has a texture issue, which I can somewhat relate to. I don’t like certain textures mixing, so I have a hard time with rice pudding, mushrooms, tofu, squid, etc. They just don’t feel right in my mouth. Mister Man takes it a step, ok a marathon, farther.

When they were babies, I made all their food. It was pretty easy. You bake a sweet potato and then mash it with a fork, put it into ice cube trays, freeze it, and voila, instant baby food. One of their favorites was avocado. I’d simply cut the avocado in half and scoop out baby size portions at a time. Usually, I’d plan to have half the avocado myself and share the other half with them, but it didn’t always work out that way. Sometimes I’d end up with none because they loved it so much.

Somewhere along the line, avocadoes went out of season, and I didn’t feed them to Mister Man for awhile. When I got an avocado again, he refused to eat it. I’d try to get it near him, but he’d scream and turn away. Since this was before he talked (and he was a LATE talker) and before I instituted the rule, I let it go. My mistake.

One day, I went out to eat with a friend and accidentally grabbed Little Miss’s bib from breakfast instead of a clean one for Mister Man. The one from breakfast had a small bit of avocado on it. Mister Man saw the avocado on the bib and gagged himself until he puked. I learned my lesson, I really did.

Or so I thought. Tonight was lemon chicken kebobs. Since they’re kebobs, they come with tomatoes (a texture I won’t force on Mister Man), onion (which I won’t force on either of them), and red peppers. They had to try the red peppers. C’mon, they’re sweet and a little crunchy but nothing gross.

I finally convinced Mister Man to try a tiny sliver of his pepper after he’d eaten all his chicken. He put it in his mouth, chewed twice and declared he didn’t like it. I told him to take a quick drink of water and swallow it. He started to gag as he picked up the cup. I told him to drink it down. He took a drink. And kept making the “yuck, I-can’t-believe-this-is-in-my-mouth" face. And gagged again. He tried another drink, but it wasn’t to be. By the time my husband (who was not completely across the table from him like I was) reached him, he’d managed to throw up the pepper and much of the chicken he’d eaten. Apparently red peppers are not Mister Man’s favorite food. Who’da thunk it?

On the plus side, as soon as he got cleaned up, he asked if he could have the ice cream sandwich I had made for dessert. Apparently, he got over it.