Dear Mother Wit:

My 7-year-old twins won’t eat the same food! They have totally different food preferences, and the pandemic lifestyle is making them less flexible by the day. One won’t touch any kind of meat and wants to live on fruit and pasta. The other loves meat, hates all vegetables, and will only eat a few kinds of fruit. We drink a lot of water, but they’re both tired of that and are always requesting soda (which used to be a very occasional treat). I’m trying to lose weight and eat a lower-carb diet, but trying to shop and prepare food for all of these different types of eating is insane! 

Kitchen Krazy

Dear Kitchen Krazy:

Food is love, right? When did feeding kids get so complicated? 

Many parents have kids who are picky eaters! We might have been picky eaters growing up, but our parents didn’t give us that option, right? Let’s look at how you can feed your kids without losing your mind. 

As long as your children are seeing their pediatrician regularly and don’t have any health concerns, the eating habits you describe aren’t too likely to cause long-term problems. Your fruit-and-pasta loving twin does need some forms of protein, and your meat-loving twin could use some fruits and vegetables. Sometimes the issue is that the child wants to exert a sense of control in this area of their life, or they need to feel like they have a choice. 

Some of us have aversions to the smells, tastes, and textures of certain foods, or we naturally don’t want to eat things that might be part of a healthy diet but don’t agree with our systems. Talk with your twins to see if any of these issues are behind their picky eating. 

This could be a great time to teach your kids about basic nutrition and how we all need different food groups to be healthy. You can offer choices of healthy proteins, fruits and vegetables, let them make their own plates, and even let them help you start preparing some of their own meals (under your supervision, of course). Stock up on healthy snacks. Don’t fuss at them about their eating, and don’t force them to eat anything they don’t want to, but praise them when they do try new foods. Let them help you research different foods and recipes, and try making them together. They can apply a lot of their school lessons to menu planning and food preparation, and you can all have fun while creating some new experiences and wonderful memories!