Notes from the Food Battle sidelines

Today is a day I have been dreading. And praying about & journaling about. You see-I am the mom of a very, very picky eater. And it is finally starting to get to me BIG TIME. I have had enough, I am finished, done, caput and ready to stop dealing with the food issues of my kid. I love him, truly I do, but hey, enough is enough....

So after much thought, prayer, etc. etc. I came up with a little plan. We are going to move slowly because if I learned anything from my Master's coursework it is that behavior modification must be approached a tiny step at a time.

So twice a week-E chooses from a short list of potential foods. During Phase 1, he must take one bite of the food on trial day before he can enjoy any of his favorites for the day. Today-he chose Chicken Fingers. I find this very funny, because at one time, this kid ate everything in site and a huge quantity of chicken fingers, but he has forgotten this...... So we fixed the fingers, and we played a little game we like to call "Interview the Contestant" (silly personal, easy questions about who he is, and we use an announcer voice to make it seem really official.)

We actually conned him into eating about 6 or 7 bites by asking questions such as
*Does it taste better if you dip it in ketchup?
*Does it taste like a hot dog?
* Does it taste like a hamburger?

So after that, he got to pick a "fast food" place for dinner-and he picked Jimmy John's. The funny thing about Jimmy John's is that Ethan eats a club sandwich there. He DOESN'T EAT MEAT OR CHEESE-however he will eat this particular sandwich which includes ham, turkey & provolone. Anyhoo-we were eating at Jimmy John's and he turns to me and asks,
"Mom, how about on Tuesday I try some cheese?"

"Okay Ethan." I said, "that sounds great. Can I tell you a little secret, though? There is cheese on your sandwich."

This is also funny-we have avoided telling him anything about this sandwich, because if he eats it, why argue with a good thing, no? But I thought the timing was right, and it was. NOW HE LIKES CHEESE!!!

THANK YOU GOD-PLEASE LET IT LAST....

Ok-seriously here, I realize most of the prep, etc. was for my benefit-but praying really helped me face this day without an emotional meltdown-& I am truly thankful to God for all the little things HE is willing to handle-if I let him :)

ANYWAY-all went well, and we think that Chicken fingers are now on the list.