Raising a Good Eater

I just finished a good book called My Two Year Old Eats Octopus. It was an interesting look at how to raise children who love to eat everything. The book isn't just about keeping your child from turning into a picky eater, but rather about raising a child who appreciates food. The author's key goals are for parents to raise children who 1) have a broad palate and 2) respect and enjoy food. To do this, she offers many tips including:

• Avoid children's menus at restaurants. This one was my favorite. Why do restaurants think all children want to eat is chicken fingers, mac-n-cheese and hot dogs?
• Take your children to restaurants early and often. They need the practice. But leave the electronic gadgets at home - kids participate in the meal.
• Have dinner together as often as possible.
• Do not, repeat do not, fix your children separate meals. They eat what everyone else in the family eats; you are not a short order cook!

The advice pretty much falls in line with what Papa Tigger and I have been doing. Since Tigger has progressed to 'regular' food, we've started taking him to restaurants again. We recently took him to a nice Italian restaurant in our neighborhood where they were to happy to have us (we went early before the crowds, like 6 pm), though they informed us that they didn't have high chairs. Tigger sat next to Papa Tigger in a regular chair, perfectly happy to devour his gnocchi. He was a doll! And last month, we brought home leftovers from Papa Tigger's birthday dinner. We all shared the leftovers the following night and Tigger gobbled up the goat (yes, I said goat).

I'm not going to kid myself that we'll never have trouble with Tigger and food or that he'll never have a meltdown in a restaurant. I think all toddlers exert their independence using food. But we'll stick with our strategy and hopefully raise a kid who truly does enjoy a variety of cuisines. So far so good!