Small steps & battles won...

[Pickle]

Ever had a day when you feel you've actually won (an albeit small) battle with your feisty children? Mine today is the fact that my two (3.5 and 2) happily ate salad with their dinner, having point blank refused up to this point in time. The refusal was due to my older son, who declared a long time ago that salad "isn't yummy", which of course means his sister refuses to eat it too.

I'm patting myself on the back for my craftiness - I've had lunch with them for the last few days, and have had salad. My daughter asked on Monday whether she could have some, to which I answered "no, it's Mummy's special lunch". Same thing on Tuesday. Tonight I asked them if "for a special treat" they would like some salad with their dinner, and you would think I'd offered chocolate buttons for breakfast - such excitement (and it was the first thing eaten off both plates).

Mummy 1 - Children 0

;-)

Any other crafty methods for dealing with childhood battles welcomed!

[Helen GV]

nice work :o)

[damzel]

I'm filing that tip for future reference!

[lillyanginger]

Brilliant! I wish I had thought of that some years ago....both boys won't touch salad - and they are 8 and 12... Not quite giving up though!

[GSJ57]

Something similar for older kids......I tell my 15 yr old son I want him home by 11.00, when I really want him home by midnight, he always negotiates to 11.30, and when I sigh and say 'OK - 11.30', he thinks I'm a soft touch. He's home early and I'm asleep by midnight!! Been doing this for months and he has no idea......

[snowboarder]

He he - excellent all. Am saving these for later - all bribery and corruption tips welcomed. As it is little sb doesn't even seem to get the most basic eat your pasta or there's no pudding theme...or maybe he does and is playing me already....

[Polly D]

Brilliant trickery! Yipppeeee, salad, thanks mummy!

[BB100]

I used to cook frozen mixed vegetables before the meal as a starter and call them sweets.

[Pickle]

Ha ha, I love your trick GSJ57, how long until he twigs do you think?

BB100, that's good too. My son loves peas, daughter won't touch them - I did try calling them sweeties one evening, but as she doesn't really like sweet things (child of mine? Can't possibly be) it didn't work. I caught a bit of Nina and the Neurons earlier today and am now thinking along the lines of green space atoms?...

My brother (32) refuses to eat raisins because when he was tiny (and I was 4/5ish) I told him they were dead flies with their wings pulled off. Even now he won't eat them. However my children love eating grated courgette which I tell them is green caterpillars, so my bug references haven't phased them. Prawns are snails from the garden...

[GSJ57]

Pickle - I have no idea how long till he twigs.....but I'm going to keep doing it as long as I can! Being a parent is all about the tickery and bribery!

[The Nappy Lady]

I think salad is a really tricky thing to get them to eat.

Has anyone else discovered tomoberries in Sainsburys? They are tiny tomatoes, about the size of a Blueberry.....suddenly my big girl, who refused raw tomato no matter what bribes I offered has decided she likes them, but ONLY these little tiny ones....I reckon it's a start. Partly they like the fact you can pop them in your mouth, and then make them go 'POP' when you crunch down on them with your molars!!

My two year old will eat loads of breakfast, but only if I sit down next to her with MY bowl of muesli, complete with fresh banana and grapes chopped into it. I think she ends up eating more of it than I do (but then I eat her porridge).

Other than that my main bribery involves holding Pepper Pig to ransom (does that make me a bad person?).

Well done Pickle!

GSJ57 I will DEFINITELY be using your trick in about 10 years time.

[Fuschia]

That's weird cos all 3 of mine like salad..

Tomatoes are one of M's faves, T likes cucumber esoecially and C will eat the lot plus lettuce leaves, spinach, raw pepper and celery. M also likes beetroot.

When tescos come they will rip open the tomato pack and scoff them before I notice (really!)

I can only put it down to the fact that i eat it every day myself and they have had it with nearly every meal... not much chance to reject it!!!

[The F-Gs]

There is a Charlie and Lola book- I will not never eat a tomato, which references cloud fluff (mashed pots), orange twiglets (carrots), moonbusters (tomatoes), etc. My 2.5 yr old loves the book and it has encouraged us both to invent names for foods which results in all sorts being eaten!

Love some of the ideas on here already! Hope there is more to come!

[Fi from West Dulwich]

Mine is not so much trickery as down right cruelty - poor old Master O, I am a horribly mean Mummy about sweet things, and I put a bit of Marmite on my plate if I am having chocolate cake. He of course is desperate to try some, and as it looks much like gooey chocolate icing, so far he hasn't twigged that chocolate is NOT the savoury spread rich in vitamin B12. This does not reflect well on either a) my morals as a mother, or b) his intellect. Poor sausage.

[womanofdulwich]

oh FI, how old is he??

[sillywoman]

not trickery or bribery but the feeling that I've won a small battle in an ongoing war;

To my distress & frustration my bright, intelligent & articulate 13yr old son has never, ever liked reading. He really couldn't do it until he was about 10 so for him it's never been a pleasure & he's never read a book for pleasure. I made a decision early on in the battle that I wouldn't force it but that I would keep alive his love of stories by reading to him as many nights as I could - and reading good books too. I kept it up and even up until the summer I was reading 'The Knife of never letting go' to him.

He really enjoyed this book, so I bought him the second in the series - I read about half to him & he read the rest. So 'Yay - he read it himself for pleasure', but my big victory was last weekend in the bookshop that I had forced him to come into with me. He spotted the third book in this series and pleaded with me t buy it. I made a pretense of reluctance of the 'well maybe, but you'll have to tidy your bedroom if I buy it for you' type whilst trying not to grab it from his hands and run to the counter with it. Once we left the bookshop he asked if he could go home ahead of me (we were on bikes) so that he could start reading his book. He did (with the book tucked down the back of his trousers) and by the time I got home he was 2 chapters in and he read the whole thing in 2 days.

I can't tell you how close to tears I was in that bookshop. Pathetic I know, & I'm not expecting miracles, but now he knows he can read for pleasure & to a poor reader that's a massive leap. It really feels like a triumph of hope & perseverance. My small triumph, but I hope you don't mind that I shared it with you?

[Fi from West Dulwich]

Oh, only 18 months (well, a bit less at the time) but he does actually LIKE Marmite, so it wasn't unutterably mean. Don't worry, I plan not to be such a spoilsport forever.

[Moos]

Sillywoman (tu)

Great story, thanks.

[GSJ57]

Sillywoman - wonderful! Am having the same problem with my 15 year old. I keep trying though - hope to have the same breakthrough that you did!

[Pickle]

Love your story Sillywoman, a testiment to good parenting :)

[The Nappy Lady]

Great story sillywoman. Well done, I'd have been tearful too.

[sillywoman]

Thankyou, Thankyou (bows). I just knew you lot would appreciate what a big deal such a seemingly small silly thing was.

GSJ57 have Pm'd you to compare notes on good books for reluctant reader teen boys.

[Polly D]

Awh sillywoman, I AM tearful! Lovely tale x