When kids don't like the menu options?

[elsbit]

I too wish Epcot had themed kids meals to go with their countries and was bummed when certain restaurants had really boring kids meals. While my kids will eat nuggets and pizza, they have always loved "adult" food like scallops, sushi, etc. It is interesting to hear what other kids are picky about. My 6 year old would not eat sandwiches until this year, but still won't eat PB&J (packing non-sandwich cold lunches that had some variety was hard until then). My 3 year old is a great eater, but doesn't like grapes or uncooked tomatoes. We are on the meal plan, but will be paying OOP for certain meals. In some restaurants I plan to order an adult meal for them to share.

 

[Jennytoon]

Sometimes, no matter what you do, a kid is going to be a picky eater. DS9 is fairly picky; however, we have always found something at any of the WDW restaurants. The only place I had been reluctant to try was Spice Road Table; however, I recently learned that they have a kids menu.

DS used to eat about anything when he was little. He loved Indian and Thai food. For awhile, his favorite meal was pork tenderloin and broccoli. Since about elementary school started, he won't touch fruit or veggies, except sometimes carrots and corn. He doesn't even like potatoes and will only marginally eat french fries. He will barely eat peanut or almond butter, but it has to be plain or with honey, no jelly. We always make him eat a bite of everything when we cook at home. I have tried making him stay at the table until he ate everything, but then he was up until 10pm. He sat at the table for 4 hours. So as long as he eats a bite of everything and most of his meat or fish, we let him go. I have actually seen him not eat or eat very little for multiple days in a row. We don't totally baby him. But since he doesn't eat much to begin with, we do try to pick something at WDW that he will eat, so he has energy to enjoy the parks.

I agree that every child and family is different -- I think the best argument for this is that we have three different levels of pickiness in each of our three children, and it's not because we changed our food policies over time. DD14 -- super picky, and somewhat picky still although she has started to try more things and even acknowledges sometimes that although she didn't like something it was probably because it was new and she thinks she would like it if she tried it a couple more times. DS11 -- eats anything, always has. DS7 -- picky but remarkably subject to "picky shaming" by DD and DS. That sounds horrible the way I write it, but it's kind of funny to watch -- DS7 will be saying he doesn't like broccoli, and DS11 will chime in "That's OK, you can give me yours. I understand why you might not want to eat the cool giant trees.". DS7 will suddenly remember that he likes broccoli. Which the point of this is that sometimes it is actually about taste, and sometimes it is about table power / politics.

Which is interesting because we had the opposite experience from you - school lunch is a breeding ground for our kids to try new things with no parent around to see if they've taken their requisite two-bite taste, and where they can dump the unsuccessful experiment in the trash with no one the wiser if they don't like something they tried. Not that our school lunches are a bastion of multi-cultural cuisine (they're not), but things like tacos or buffalo chicken bites have been baby steps towards being willing to try more flavorful or pungent foods for our two picky ones.

I also would like to see more themed entries on the kids' menus (and kids menus in general, not just WDW), but more for kids who actually want those options in a kid size than to help my kids try new things. From the new things perspective we've always been happy to order them the boring kids menu meal they want and fall back on our rule that at any restaurant parents can require that children take a taste of two things from the adult plates.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Mind you, we are not DDP people and we have worked really hard to ensure our kids try a wide variety of foods to broaden their tastes/preferences while also working with our older one's food allergies, but we still pick restaurants with menu items that appeal to everyone. Now that sometimes means having my 6 year old eat an entree off of the adult menu or my 8 year old eating a combination of adult menu appetizers. Of course, it's also very rare to encounter a menu where there's just absolutely nothing nobody would eat.

 

[soniam]

I am actually a little disappointed in some of the kids offerings at Epcot TS too. Even though DS9 is picky, they don't seem to offer beef, except hamburgers, on a lot of the kids menus. DS likes beef a lot more than chicken. We had this problem at Teppan Edo. So, we ordered a kid's chicken and an adult beef. DH ate the chicken, and he and DS split the beef, which worked well. DS can't eat a whole adult meal himself yet, so I don't want to waste the money. Restaurant Marrakesh has a boring kid's menu too. DS loves kebabs. He won't touch the veggies and sometimes he won't even eat rice or couscous However, he will eat the beef, especially if it's a more traditional kebab and not one of the saucy or stew dishes.

I am just seriously hoping he grows out of this. He's missing out on some wonderful things. It's especially weird for me, because I had grandparents and great grandparents with gardens and orchards. I grew up eating any and all fruits and vegetables, except asparagus and cooked spinach, which if properly cooked I will gladly eat now. I have never been much of a meat eater but love seafood and fish. We eat all sorts of veggies at home, like beets, eggplant, greens, okra. It's definitely lack of exposure to stuff that prevents DS from liking things, and he never can explain why he does not like something. I also love beans, and he can't stand them in pretty much any form. He seems to like so few things, that some days I am just glad he eats.

Good luck to everyone with their dining experiences and their WDW trips. Man, next June can't come fast enough

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I've noticed with my kids that they have a habit of saying "I don't like that" when they really mean "I'm not in the mood for that."

You can't go from day liking grilled cheese to literally a week later not liking it.

I try to explain to them that I'm not a short order cook. Dinner is dinner. If I made carne asada and tortillas instead of the rice, beans and stewed chicken you preferred you don't get to say that you don't like carne asada. Especially when you are it last week. And I'm not making a second meal.

 

[DCDisney]

I had a born picky eater. She was picky with baby food way beyond what I could imagine a baby could be. I think she tastes bitter more than most people but once we was of an age we could rationalize with her she accepted new foods pretty routinely. As a teen she still dislikes most veggies if they are cooked but will eat nearly any veggie raw. When they were little we tended to do a lot of buffets because often they would eat lots of fruit, cheese, and raw veggies where if we did a menu style restaurant they ended up with something far less healthy. We usually did do 1 reach type restaurant with them each trip and inevitably they would really enjoy it. Le Cellier was an early favorite for them at a stage where they were both just starting to eat meat at 4 and 6 but were willing to try steak. I would think Japanese would be a good one for that type of experience assuming they'll definitely eat the rice, might eat the chicken, maybe/maybe not on the veggies type thing but they would enjoy the hibachi experience.