"I Love to Eat Cloud"

I don't think words can really express just exactly the lovely thoughts I have about "Charlie and Lola". It's charming and whimsical and smart and fun and I love watching it with my kids. For a girl who shuns most television, especially kids television, this is high praise indeed.

This particular story, "I Will Never, Not Ever, Eat a Tomato" (pronounce it "tom-ah-to") is one we can all relate to - Lola is a "very fussy eater". But her ever-patient and amazingly thoughtful brother comes to the rescue with lines like this:

"Oh,
this
isn't
mashed potato.
People often
think that but no,
this is cloud fluff from
the pointiest peak of Mount Fuji."
"Oh," said Lola, "in that case a large helping for me.
I love to eat cloud."

I have one adventurous eater - she'll try anything once, which is all we ask - and one who is fussy to say the least. So, how do you do it? How do you get your fussy eaters to eat? Personally, it's simply not a battle I've ever really wanted to fight. So I don't. I love this article by Catherine Newman (who wrote for the fabulous late Wondertime magazine and still writes for FamilyFun) about stealth vegetables - especially this part:

"I put kale on his plate and put kale on his plate and put kale on his plate, and my son tried it and grimaced and we praised him for trying it and pages flew off the calendar and his beard grew down to the floor, and then one day he ate it without comment. And then one day he ate it and said, "This is actually not as bad as I thought!" After which a pair of bluebirds draped around my shoulders the very banner of joy."

I like to think we have healthy eating habits around here, even those of us who are more ... um ... particular. But the real wish I have for my kids is that they not be afraid of trying new things. So I put salad on his plate over and over again, and we don't try to be sneaky about it. But that doesn't mean we can't have fun with it too - pretend we're rabbits or deer or cows, or that we're on a secret mission to destroy the evil plots of Captain Lettuce to take over the world. Or whatever.

So how about you? What's your picky-eater philosophy? Does it work?

P.S. I'm sewing as we speak! Stay tuned for the exciting next episode of our Quilt Along!