Today My Daughter Ate Ham

Ellie had lunch meat today.

I sat her in front of the TV with a plate of strawberries, bananas, and rolled up slices of ham. She immediately scowled and said "HEY! I DIDN'T WANT THAT!"

I calmly told her, "Oh, I know... but remember how the doctor told you that 4 year old girls need to try some new food every day? Well - this is your new food today. And you don't have to eat it. I'm not going to make you. But if you do eat it, when we go to the grocery store later today... you get to pick out whatever kind of popsicles you want and you can eat a popsicle today."

"I want a rainbow popsicle."

"Great! We can do that. But you have to eat the ham."

"How much?"

"All of it."

"That's a lot."

"Do you want a rainbow popsicle?"

(Sigh) "Okay...."

And then she ate ham. And she didn't complain or cry or gag or throw up as she has been known to do in the past. I wouldn't say she gobbled it up or anything like that but she ate it with no issues. I had to walk in my closet and take a deep breath to keep from crying.



And yes, I'm bribing her with popsicles.

At this point I'm not even necessarily wanting her to try healthy food. I just want her to try food! I want her to stop being scared and to realize that food is yummy. I want her to try macaroni and cheese (FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND HOLY) and I want her to try lasagna and all the wonderful foods of the world. She's been missing out for a lot of years.

So here's my question for you:

As I'm introducing her to new foods, I want her to realize that food is yummy and I want her to take bites of things that aren't scary looking and also taste absolutely amazing so that she doesn't fight me on it. For years, the biggest battle was getting her to put it into her mouth. Now that she is, I want her to be like THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!!!



So - tell me your thoughts! What would you serve a child that is essentially being brave and eating things for the first time?!