# Parents, do me a favor, quit raising your kids so damn picky! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 15, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347 "2010-08-15T19:04:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/81 "2010-08-16T17:43:17Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > > [@Rushgeekgirl](#): > > > > She certainly doesn’t get this from me or her daddy, and **we don’t encourage her silly little gagging displays.** I can only hope she’ll grow out of it like her big sister did. > > I spent many meals sitting at the table, gagging and getting yelled at. You have zero control over gagging. I can remember my stomach turning and gagging the food right back out, then being yelled at while I cried and tried to swallow it again. It wasn’t fun or silly. I hope you aren’t too hard on her about it. In second grade, a lunchroom supervisor decided he had enough of my pickiness and not wanting to eat string beans and basically browbeat me into eating them. I didn’t want to but did it and immediately threw up…with much volume. I then had to sit in the Principals office trying to explain my behavior…40 years later I still am thinking wtf? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/82 "2010-08-16T17:51:04Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > In second grade, a lunchroom supervisor decided he had enough of my pickiness and not wanting to eat string beans and basically browbeat me into eating them. > > I didn’t want to but did it and immediately threw up…with much volume. > > I then had to sit in the Principals office trying to explain my behavior…40 years later I still am thinking wtf? Holy crap. Was that a Christian private school in Fort Lauderdale? If so, I hate to tell you this but I still remember that! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/83 "2010-08-16T19:39:53Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > > [@kunilou](#): > > > > What, you think I _raised_ my kids to be picky eaters? > > > > \ > > For that matter, you think I liked being told I couldn’t leave the table until I ate my (whatever) and sitting there until it was time for bed, because I absolutely couldn’t tolerate even taking a bite of (whatever)? > > I’ve got a crate of nano-violins on a priority shipment for you. Life must be rough. Wow. Actually, it is rough to have picky kids, especially when you’re doing whatever you can not to enable the behavior. > [@MsWhatsit](#): > > I just really despise the idea of forcing a child to sit there at the table until the food is all gone, no matter what. What if they aren’t hungry? What if they just don’t like it? I am a relatively adventurous eater and always have been, but I will never forget the time that my mom bought these weird hot dogs that had cheese filling in them and served them for dinner. I thought they were disgusting and ate a bite of mine and didn’t want anymore. I had to sit there staring at those godawful things for the next two hours because my mom wanted to make some kind of point about “cleaning my plate.” Guess what? I still didn’t eat them and I wouldn’t eat them if someone served them to me today, either. Because they were _disgusting_. > > I don’t really understand why some people seem to feel that not liking a wide variety of foods is some kind of moral failing. I mean, look up-thread and there is someone who actually says that if someone doesn’t like the food he cooks, then that person is no longer welcome in his house. No longer welcome in his house! Because they don’t particularly care for the type of food that he prepared. That is messed up. I agree with every response you have written in this thread. When you force a kid to sit at the table and stare at a plate of fried eggs, swearing that you won’t let her down from the table until she eats them because there are kids in Africa who are starving, you’re not teaching that child anything about trying new foods or even about how to be polite when faced with foods s/he doesn’t like. You’re teaching what a battle of wills is all about. Period. > [@MsWhatsit](#): > > > [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > > > And as far as obesity epidemics, that started when women quit cooking at home, and in their laziness, decided that it was easier to take the kids to McDonald’s once or twice a week instead. > > Mm, OK. That’s…really interesting. I actually appreciate that you shared this little nugget (ha!) with us, as it lets me know how much worth I should assign your opinions. **In Winnipeg** , do you _have_ kids? ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/84 "2010-08-16T19:54:32Z")
Sweet Jeebus, I hope not. There are enough idiots already breeding in this world. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/85 "2010-08-16T19:56:46Z")
How could anyone not like string cheese?! ---
**Author:** ![JuliaSqueezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@JuliaSqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuliaSqueezer)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/86 "2010-08-16T20:17:36Z")
\*\*In Winnipeg \*\*has not returned to answer our questions. Maybe he’s busy scrubbing his kitchen floor and making a nice casserole for dinner. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/87 "2010-08-16T20:25:58Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Sweet Jeebus, I hope not. There are enough idiots already breeding in this world. **Moderator note**. **purplehorseshoe** , this is an insulting remark which is clearly directed at another poster, even though you have avoided the “you are a \_\_\_\_\_” construction. Insulting other posters is not allowed in this forum. Don’t do it again. For the Straight Dope, **Spectre of Pithecanthropus** ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/88 "2010-08-16T22:06:36Z")
Oops. Sorry. Back to the kitchen for me! ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/89 "2010-08-16T23:37:15Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Oops. Sorry. Back to the kitchen for me! I sure hope you’re not expecting any Dopers to eat your green beans. You know what’s going to happen . . . ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/90 "2010-08-16T23:42:45Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > I don’t get it. When I was a kid, there was none of this pickey eating crap. You ate everything on your plate, even the stuff you didn’t like. Sure, you may have been given a smaller portion of the stuff you hated, but you were expected to eat some of it, anyway. > > Reason was you never knew what someone may cook if they asked you to stay to dinner, and you didn’t want to look ungracious. Go figure. I’ve never gotten why “clearing your plate” was considered such great shakes. I still don’t eat everything on my plate. Portions are huge. I usually end up just eating what I want and saving the rest for later. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/91 "2010-08-16T23:44:24Z")
So I queried the mom of one of the boys…turns out he’s a **vegetarian** (I know!) well, not REALLY a vegetarian, that’s just what he ends up eating the most. So one boy lives on Mac n cheese, the other boy’s a vegetarian, a third doesn’t like mayo…in a sleepover situation, I could end up making 6 different meals. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/92 "2010-08-16T23:47:12Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > He would be, if there weren’t so many women in the workplaces where formerly there were none. Bring women in, though, through affirmative action, and the wage scale drops. Are you fucking _serious_? :dubious: I was a moderately picky eater as a kid, now I just have foods I don’t like, but that’s about it. I won’t touch eggs unless they’re scrambled, for example. They literally make me gag. My sister was and is a lot pickier than I am, and it’s only in the last year or so that she’s started eating salads. (She’s 25.) My parents were pretty lenient with us, since THEY had been forced to do the whole “clean your plate” thing when they were young. (My dad especially) My dad ended up with a weight problem as a kid, and my mother has an extremely sensitive digestive system and there’s a lot of stuff she can’t eat. (Even stuff she likes) I only did the “eeeeewww” thing _once_. I was three and my dad was eating hard boiled eggs. I was grossed out and said, “oh yuck!!!” Dad got pissed and pushed his chair away from the table a wee too forceably – thus sending my plate of Beef Stroganoff (which I loved and still do), right into my lap. That’s the last time I did THAT. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/93 "2010-08-17T00:45:08Z")
> [@multimediac17](#): > > How could anyone not like string cheese?! I was not familiar with what string cheese tasted like until I was an adult, as my family never bought it or other “kid friendly” foods. I did, however, see it frequently enough in classmates’ lunches and assumed it was another one of those weird things that American kids ate. ---
**Author:** ![moejoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@moejoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moejoe)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/94 "2010-08-17T01:25:58Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > So I queried the mom of one of the boys…turns out he’s a **vegetarian** (I know!) well, not REALLY a vegetarian, that’s just what he ends up eating the most. > > So one boy lives on Mac n cheese, the other boy’s a vegetarian, a third doesn’t like mayo…in a sleepover situation, I could end up making 6 different meals. So mac n cheese, cheese pizza, grilled cheese with fries, yogurt with fruit, popcorn…it’s not like a sleepover is all about nutrition anyway so who cares? I raised three kids, two adventurous eaters and one picky eater who now eats quite normally as an adult. I hear a lot of parents saying “I’m not a short order cook!” But I didn’t mind making different things for each of them as long as they were easy things to make. We were all goofing off in the kitchen together anyway, debriefing the day, doing homework, cooking was just a part of the evening activities and it helped them learn how to cook the things they liked for themselves as they grew up. Doing this didn’t spoil them, I know this because they are adults now and not at all spoiled. It didn’t really take any more time than cooking one dinner would have, and when everyone is in the house these days we still all end up in the kitchen cooking several different things and goofing off together. Happy times. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/95 "2010-08-17T01:29:43Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > So one boy lives on Mac n cheese, the other boy’s a vegetarian, a third doesn’t like mayo…in a sleepover situation, I could end up making 6 different meals. Since mac & cheese does not feature mayonnaise or meat, I think you’d be OK serving it to all three boys you mention. 😛 Also, I totally sympathize with the mayo-hater, because mayo is gross. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/96 "2010-08-17T01:33:38Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > > [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > > > So one boy lives on Mac n cheese, the other boy’s a vegetarian, a third doesn’t like mayo…in a sleepover situation, I could end up making 6 different meals. > > Since mac & cheese does not feature mayonnaise or meat, I think you’d be OK serving it to all three boys you mention. 😛 > > Also, I totally sympathize with the mayo-hater, because mayo is gross. I agree. And if you wanted to make a dish of some kind of meat to go with the mac and cheese, then the vegetarian just doesn’t have to eat the meat dish. Some fresh melon or berries on the side, and there ya go. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/97 "2010-08-17T01:49:58Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > So I queried the mom of one of the boys…turns out he’s a **vegetarian** (I know!) well, not REALLY a vegetarian, that’s just what he ends up eating the most. > > So one boy lives on Mac n cheese, the other boy’s a vegetarian, a third doesn’t like mayo…in a sleepover situation, I could end up making 6 different meals. What’s so out there/picky about being a vegetarian? And how much stuff do you put mayo in/on that it’s an issue worth mentioning more than once? ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/98 "2010-08-17T01:53:53Z")
I read somewhere that if a kid repeatedly tries something they don’t like, they will get to like it after about 15 times. So when we give our son something new and he says he doesn’t like it, I say “well, eat some of it and then you only have another 14 times to go”. This is not sadism - we simply do not want to either restrict ourselves to the very limited diet he claimed to like or to cook separately for him. And you know what - it works - often after far fewer than 15 times. The number of things he likes or at least doesn’t mind is now much broader. ---
**Author:** ![Velma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/85e7bf/32.png) [@Velma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velma)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/99 "2010-08-17T02:02:13Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > He would be, if there weren’t so many women in the workplaces where formerly there were none. Bring women in, though, through affirmative action, and the wage scale drops. Huzzah! It’s all going exactly as we planned! Might as well give up now. We won’t rest until we have ALL the jobs. Even if it means the total decline of society. We are just that selfish. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347/100 "2010-08-17T02:08:26Z")
> [@Velma](#): > > > [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > > > He would be, if there weren’t so many women in the workplaces where formerly there were none. Bring women in, though, through affirmative action, and the wage scale drops. > > Huzzah! It’s all going exactly as we planned! > > Might as well give up now. We won’t rest until we have ALL the jobs. Even if it means the total decline of society. We are just that selfish. We’ll never get _all_ the jobs. We, as a society, will perish from obesity-related illnesses before that can happen, because we are all selfish, lazy bitches! Oh, but apparently not too lazy to take all the jobs away from men. . . 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/parents-do-me-a-favor-quit-raising-your-kids-so-damn-picky/550347.md?page=6)