Conquering Vegetarianism

Geno has never liked meat. He wouldn't eat it as a baby (I don't blame him...baby food meat is gross!) and wouldn't eat it as a toddler. He has grown in appreciation for (or at least toleration of) almost all other foods that he didn't used to like, such as vegetables and soup, but meat still gives him problems. He seems to have grown in his dislike of it over the years, and I don't see it really changing at the rate we're growing. Now that his vocabulary has grown, he has declared that he is NOT a "meat eater", and that seems to have cemented the point in his mind.

This morning, while trying to explain the reason why most people enjoy eating sausage, I had a breakthrough. We are going to tackle this like we've tackled other things the kids rebel about doing...by finding some fun, interesting way to TEACH him to eat meat, and even to...like it.

So, I made a chart. And he helped. We brainstormed and wrote down every meat we could think of (and fish products) that we usually eat at our house or other people's houses. And then I brought out two sets of stickers. I explained that this was his chart to help him learn to eat (and like!) meat...and he was to first tell me if he already liked ANY of the things on the chart. I wasn't sure if he would. But he chose "lunchmeat" and he was able to put a white sticker next to it, and a smiley face sticker on top. Then he was to choose any of the meat/fish on the list to work on, and put a white sticker on. He chose bacon. (I happen to know he has been fairly successful eating bacon in the past...but I didn't remind him of that, I just went along with it). So, he put his sticker next to bacon, and went on with the day.

For lunch I cooked him a small piece of bacon, along with our regular food. He ate it all up, and remembered all by himself to put a smiley face sticker by bacon. And, all by himself, he decided to work on hamburgers next (he says he doesn't like hamburgers...he "likes" cheeseburgers but still will hardly ever eat even half of a small one).

So far so good. He is interested, and it is a challenge for him. He is (mostly) in charge of the process, and it's fun for him to pick which one to work on next. For my part, I'll try to serve the "chosen" meat within a day or so of when he picks it, so he won't lose interest in this little project. And, I am all set to remind him of his chart if (when?) he complains about some meat that he has already conquered. I also may wait to have him put a smiley face next to something until it has been served at least 2-3 times (for those particularly challenging meats...like chicken), to make sure.

Wish us luck!