Help! Very fussy eater DGSs staying

Get them to make their own pizzas, theirs on a bread base, yours on a dough base, with lots of different toppings available. Then see whose is nicer with a tasting session for whole family.

Personally I wouldn't go out of my way to pander to fussy eaters. Just cook whatever you and your H were planning to eat and offer it to your GC, don't ask them if they'd like it just serve it it up. If they eat it, great. If they don't they stay hungry. Then they'll probably eat at the next meal. Sounds tough I know but I did it with my kids and they soon got the message, eat what's offered or go hungry. They'll eat anything and everything now and they do the same with their own children. Your GC may go home and tell their Mum 'Nanny didn't feed us', just say 'the food was there, if they didn't want to eat it that's their problem.'

Have nice weekend!

My mum used to make ‘cocktails’ she’d whizz up fruit without them seeing and add some soda water and ice.

Take them to Macdonalds - if they're still open! Or KFC anywhere they don't usually go and food they don't usually have - fish and chips from a newspaper, perhaps. At 8 and 10 they'll be at school - find out what they like/dislike about their school dinners. If they're only with you for a weekend a diet of white bread and peanut butter won't hurt them.

Do they eat pasta? You could make a tomato sauce with other veg and then whizz it up so they won’t know what’s in it. My youngest was an absolute nightmare to feed, she ate only fruit nuts and chocolate for years. My gp said don’t worry, protein from the nuts, iron from the chocolate and vitamin c from the fruit. She was never ill and now is still a bit fussy. Looking back I wish I hadn’t made such a big deal of trying to make her eat. Her two sons of 11 and 9 have always eaten absolutely anything, which slightly irks me because she will never know what she put me through!

Fish fingers, chicken nuggets? You get cod and haddock fish fingers now and the chicken dippers can be breast. DGC can't tell difference. DGS1 is 7 and wants "flavoursome food". He will eat some meat and has asked me if I use salt, which I do and his Mum doesn't. I don't use a lot. He has asked Mum to use salt!!!!

GD used to say she didn't like things without trying them but now she is willing to try a tiny taste and sometimes goes on to like them. This worked with tinned tuna which we can now have with pasta, potatoes or pizza. She doesn't like the tuna in oil though.
It also worked with custard, she loves it now so can have a cooked pudding or fruit to "top her up" after a small main course.
My sister was a very fussy eater and lived on chicken salad or breaded plaice - not that bad a diet really.

I am so lucky that my grandchildren were not difficult to feed when they were small. They went to a nursery which served only vegetarian food. I can still remember them holding bits of broccoli, one in each hand and saying they were like miniature trees! Later on their mum continued to feed them very healthily, so much so that when they came to me,they would ask for fish fingers as they never had them at home.
Now they still eat most things.
I hope your weekend menus worked out, OP.

Katek

Since they were small all my dgc have loved what they call a ‘snacky treaty’ plate. The older ones are 15 and still enjoy it. Just put out on one plate a couple of rolled up slices of ham (or other cold meat), breadsticks or crisps, cheese, grapes (or other cut fruit) box of raisins, small yoghurt and anything else you think they might like and leave them to it. It’s surprising what disappears from the plate!

This was what my children loved too, including salami, smoked and tinned fish, olives, different cheeses, fruit and veg slices, tomatoes and dips like hummus and taramasalata.
I can honestly say that, once we were past the pureed or mashed food stage, we all ate the same food together at every meal.

Enjoy your weekend with grandkids ?

I think you are right MinniMoon. Just share your family meals and no fuss if they refuse but treat it like an adventure. The more you tippy toe round them the more they think they are right to be fussy.

My children were not excessively fussy but I remember taking them to Legoland in Denmark for a holiday when they were 2 and 4. Wherever we went children's meals were either 'chicken and chips' (chicken on the bone) or 'sausage in bread'. They always chose the hot dog. In the end I just let them have what they wanted - a hot dog - for every meal. I put vitamin drops in their drinks and decided when we got home we'd remedy any nutritional deficit! They both eat pretty much everything now and my son eats all vegetables, including things I prefer to avoid, despite only really liking 2 or 3 different ones when young. Two weeks of hot dogs didn't do any harm so I'm sure a weekend of peaanut butter and nutella sandwiches won't either!

If they like sausage and mash if you cook some carrotts or brocalli mash it in with the gravy with a hand mixer, our cook at our nursery would do that and the children didn’t know about the veg and it all got eaten.

When I last had my DGS I gave him a cheese and ham toastie which he wolfed down. When DD arrived to pick him up she asked what he had eaten, when I told her she said he wouldn't eat it for her!! With DGD I'm not so lucky!! but I do like the idea of a 'snacky treaty' plate!

When I took in foster children and also when child minding I just cooked normal evening meals and sandwich lunches. Fresh meat/fish and veg etc. Just put dinner on the table and let them eat what they like. Really fussy children will eat when they are hungry. Always check for allergy though.

TBH I suspect that they wouldn't starve to death even if there was nothing other than bread/nutella/peanut butter to eat!

Maybe stuffed potato skins and they can help mixing in maybe cheese and ham with the hollowed out potato and stuffing it all back into the skin again to put in the oven to crisp up a little. You could add a dollop of beans to the side.

Just wanted to add I have 4 children, two were fussy eaters, one was what I would call a normal eater and one would eat anything and everything and seemed impossible to fill but was always really skinny. Dinner time was fun in our house.

Laurmurf

My BFF is a dietician whose research specialises in picky eating. Her advice is - don’t worry. Picky eating in western children has no negative impact on their health or diet as older children and teens. Her own son lived off white bread PBJs for years.
Have a lovely time with your grandkids!

She'd have had a shock if she met my DD at the height of her pickyness. Doctor warned her, when she was 4, that if she lost half a pound by her next weigh in she was being admitted to hospital as her weight loss was drastic and she was in danger of her organs being affected. With much chocolate and cake and persuasion we avoided that particular nightmare but she was borderline for many years. I'm pretty sure her height was restricted, she is almost a foot shorter than her brother and is shorter than me and my husband.

When my two youngest GC were tiny fussy eaters I tried a trick that seemed to work; I cooked a variety of vegetables, and put a few spoons of each into some very small ramekin type dishes, put the dishes onto their dinner plates with the main item, and asked them to try each thing and tell me what they thought. Remarkably they did - I solemnly wrote down their findings on a notepad, and they seemed to like the novelty of carrots in one dish, peas in another, and for a good while after this they clamoured for a 'special' dinner so that they could be food critics! They eat well now, and are still quite young, so I do hope you have a happy time with the GC, and try not to worry - it's just not worth it as so many posts on here have demonstrated. x

They will be there now, have a happy weekend. We used to worry about what to provide for meals as our dgc is the same. We tried cooking together and asking mum about current favourite foods but nothing worked. Now we have lots of choice when we eat together so we all, including gc, can pick and we decided to never question that choice or comment on how much is eaten. We also play a game like ‘I spy’ ?‍♀️ while we’re eating. As you say they won’t starve while they’re at your house. Now it’s not an issue GC has relaxed and eats a good quantity.

We have a similar problem with a recently adopted GC who has been in foster care living in fried chicken nuggets and other easy cook food. She likes her food crispy and automatically rejects anything else. Fortunately she also seems to have been given noodles and accepts pasta - though not anything with sauce. We use Garofalo pasta which comes in shapes such as stars and crescents, or toys. The pieces are a good size and a nice texture. We serve them with grated cheese and little bits of colour such as sliced cherry tomatoes sweetcorn and cheese. Well browned pizza works too.

My BFF is a dietician whose research specialises in picky eating. Her advice is - don’t worry. Picky eating in western children has no negative impact on their health or diet as older children and teens. Her own son lived off white bread PBJs for years.
Have a lovely time with your grandkids!

Home made chicken dippers and chips, I used mini chicken fillets, dipped in flour, egg, then breadcrumbs. Meatballs with pasta, homemade pizza, let them choose the toppings.
These were favourites with my two grandchildren and still are even though they are 16 and 13 ☺️

My grandson was the pickiest eater on the planet from about the age of two. He almost lived on a diet of plain pasta, carrot and cucumber sticks and cheese (as long as you didn’t put it on the pasta!). No potatoes, butter on bread, pizzas or sauces of any kind. Now, at fourteen, he will eat anything and likes to cook. Give them what you know they will eat and don’t spend time worrying about it?.