No Thank You

 

When you raise kids in the church, it can be a benefit to raise adventurous eaters. It can make eating in public, at the home of others, or when traveling a lot easier. But it’s also a lot of work at your own table. 

One of our best tools was the No Thank You Bite. We would offer some of everything that was served for dinner and if the response was “No, thank you” they would get one bite of it on their plate. Never required to eat an large amount of food but encouraged to taste every food. 

We would follow up no thank you bites with a conversation. “What don’t you like about it?” This simple question lead us into many discussions on food and all its different aspects. Do you like sour, crunchy, creamy, sweet? 

Our little one has outgrown no thank you bites but we still talk about food at the table. She’s allowed to not like things and she often can tell you exactly why or how she’d change the dish to make it more enjoyable. She has a wide range of foods that she loves and can often find something to eat in any situation. 

We also would allow her to rename any new dish, turning things like tater tot casserole into flibbity bippity. And we would be adventurous with our own choices, showing her the joy of trying a large variety of new foods. We have also explored many different cultures in our homeschool by exploring their cuisine. 

Tell me, how do you teach your kids to be adventurous eaters?