When I was in the first grade, my teacher threw a Peculiar "P" Party when we learned about the letter "P." My favorite part of the week was when each child brought a food that started with the letter "P." We all got to try new foods; and even as a six-year-old I was a sucker for a theme party. 🙂 Fast-forward 25 years and now I've got two kids who are ridiculously picky eaters. My parents are totally getting the justice they deserve for putting up with my picky preferences as a child. I don't know how things got so ridiculous…but some nights I could almost cry because mealtimes are so frustrating for me. I wanted a way to make trying new things fun, and one day I thought about having our own version of the Peculiar "P" Party, but picnic style. 

My game plan is to try this again, but each time with a different letter and foods that are more of a stretch for their picky palates. We went a little safe this time around so they'd feel comfortable with the concept. First step: I took the kids to the grocery store to look for foods that start with the letter "P." It was kind of like a fun game. We came home with pomegranate juice, pistachios, pickles, pepperoni pizza (my kids will only eat cheese pizza…so even pepperoni seems like a victory to me), pesto, pineapple, and lots of other stuff. I tried to mix in a few things that I knew they liked, like pretzels, popcorn and pears just so they'd feel a little less intimidated.

One of my kids won't eat yogurt if it has chunks of fruit in it (see what I mean?!?) So I made sure to include some peach yogurt, with chunks. 😉

I prepped everything to be bite-size portions, like little hors d'oeuvres, and labeled everything so they'd see all of our "P" foods. And of course, plenty of "Pee" jokes were thrown in the mix by my six-year-old. Then we loaded up our plates and headed for the picnic blanket. I got the kids to try some new things. No tears, no yelling, and no gagging. I'd say it was a success. And they even liked a few of the new things they tried. The pomegranate seeds were a hit. I'll take a little victory any day.

And Baby Nolan liked his first picnic. Soon I'll have to think about introducing him to new foods. If you've got a little one at your house, make sure to drop by my blog today and enter the Baby Bullet giveaway. Then you can make all the peach, pear, pea and plum purees your little one will love–at least until he turns into a picky big kid too. 

 

Post by Christina Williams : justcallmechris.blogspot.com