"Ew, gross!" "I don’t like it!" How many of you have had this response after working hard to prepare a new dish for you family? It can be quite frustrating especially if you know they’ll like it b/c they like every single one of the ingredients in it or worse yet, they devoured it the last time you made it and now won’t even try it.
My husband and I have always insisted the our kids at least try a bite of whatever it is we’re eating. This hasn’t always gone without a bit of protesting though. This December my husband’s cousin was in town and he told us about the "No Thank You Bite" that they use at their house.
It plays out like this… You put dinner on the table and the child says they don’t like it. You respond, "That’s fine, you need to take a No Thank You bite and after eating it you can politely say, No thank you I don’t want any more OR if you like it, you may have more."
The kids now know that even if they don’t like what is before them, they have to take a No Thank You bite. They accept this as fact and will generally do it without complaining. In fact, the other day a friend of ours was babysitting our children and she served them lunch. She later filled me in on the following conversation.
My son told her that he didn’t like baked beans.
My friend replied, "That’s ok, you don’t have to eat them."
My son then responded, "Can I have a No Thank You bite?"
My friend said, "You don’t have to have a no thank you bite you can just not eat them."
My son then said, "Please can I have a No Thank You Bite?" He then proceeded to eat his No Thank You bite and say, "No thank you, I don’t want anymore."
The No Thank You bite works for us, to find out what works for others check out Rocks in My Dryer.
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