Getting kids interested in food

This blog is close to my heart and one of the reasons behind creating this website and engaging with other families on how they encourage their children to eat healthily and eat a variety of foods.

The picture above is Dylan my eldest, smiling happily having just created ravioli from home made pasta and filling. His journey with food has been a difficult one and goes back to the very first days the he was born. Delivered by emergency C-section at 27 week gestation weighing in at 945g (just over 2lbs). He spent 3 months in hospital where he was diagnosed with a genetic Kidney condition, Bartters Syndrome. The early years were difficult with frequent trips to hospital, an enormous amount of medication and a need to drink more water than the average Blue Whale to stave off near constant dehydration. Now he is 14, it feels like it is under control and we have found a routine. He still has to take 60+ tablets a day and has to keep hydrated, but it is managed.

One thing that all this has done is impact on his ability to eat both in terms of variety and amount. From the early stages of weening, he wouldn't tolerate anything with texture and his lack of tolerance for food continued as he grew. We consulted numerous medical "experts", tried all their suggestions, but nothing really worked. No reward was enough to bribe him into finishing a meagre plate of food and when he did eat, it would take an hour or more to have anything close to a dinner. He would take a packed lunch to school and throw most of it away hoping that we wouldn't find out. As someone who loves food, this was absolutely heartbreaking.

Those years were horrible, but I do think that he has turned a corner. What has changed? Well obviously he is now older, his medication has changed from disgusting liquid to all tablets and he has become interested in food and cooking. The kitchen has become a space where he and I can spend quality time together doing things that we both enjoy. I think that this has led to him wanting to experiment with food more and being more open to trying new foods. On a recent holiday in Guernsey, he tried some of my Beef Carpaccio with Parmesan and Balsamic vinegar. As soon as he tried it, I didn't get a look in. His repertoire of foods that he eats has increased exponentially, although he does still have his favourite (don't we all).

Many of the recipes that you see here are the ones that he enjoys and some of them are his, the BBQ sauce being his speciality. There is no silver bullet that will change anyone's (let alone a child's)attitude to food, it is about slowly helping them in an environment which allows them to change in their own time.

As for Dylan's younger brother, Barney, he has been the opposite and is a self pronounced carnivore and will eat and eat and eat. He does even eat his vegetables too. I have never seen anyone devour so many mini Toad in the Hole as he does (recipe to follow shortly). Luckily all the sport that he does means that it is used as fuel!! No matter whether you have someone that doesn't like food, or loves it, creating a positive environment is really important and will work eventually.