Father and Son Faceoff in Battle Turkey Manwich

Aiden won't try new foods and it is just maddening. There's a concern among Liz and I that he's not getting the nutrition he needs. He gets plenty to eat, but I'm afraid he's forming bad eating habits.

So what was my solution? Patience and force. Last night we had Manwich (made with ground turkey) and some onion rings. I thought the onion rings were a stretch, but figured we'd be in good shape with the turkey Manwich.

So he had his usual fit. He fears new foods. The screaming and crying were soon underway as he adamantly refused to even try the food. I figured I could wait him out. I can hear you all laughing already.

I waited with him constantly and calmly asking him to take one bite for about 35 minutes total. He continued his crying and screaming for the duration of the ordeal. I honestly thought I was doing a good thing by trying to introduce him to new foods and maybe setting a precedent.

Then this morning I read this on iVillage as an answer to a parent with a similar problem of a toddler unwilling to try new foods:

Despite the limited variety of food your son eats, he's at least eating a good balance of nutrients. A diet of cheese sandwiches, cereal, milk, bananas and orange juice includes fairly adequate protein (from the cheese), a generous supply of carbohydrates (from the bread and cereal), a source of vitamin A (from the orange juice and milk), a great source of vitamin C (from the orange juice) and lots of B vitamins and potassium (from the banana and grains).


The one nutrient that I would be a little concerned about is iron. At two years, your son still needs iron from his diet. If the cereal he is eating is iron fortified, then he should be okay. If he is not eating an iron-fortified cereal, then consider a child supplement of iron. He should be getting 10 milligrams a day.


To get your son to eat a larger variety of foods will require a generous amount of patience. Toddlerhood is characterized by a dislike or fear of new foods, so familiarity is the key to acceptance. Try serving your child foods that you think he will like at family meals over and over again. Include a small portion on his plate and let him take it from there. If he won't even touch it, that's okay. Just be sure that you also have one or two of his favorite foods on hand so he won't go hungry. When he gets close to being willing to taste something new, assure him that he can take it out of his mouth if he doesn't like it.


It may take months or even years before your child expands his food repertoire. Until then, continue to include him in family meals and let him know you are enjoying his company. Keep the emphasis off what is or is not being eaten, and keep it on the family. Make it a time to share the enjoyment of good and healthy food, and little by little your son will add new foods to his diet.

So according to this what I did was trust my instincts which couldn't have been more wrong. All I did was make him angry and in the end he never tried a bite. We both left in lousy moods. He went to his mother. I went outside to throw a tennis ball against a brick wall several times to relieve stress.

The only thing I'm proud of is that I remained calm the entire time. I'm glad that I didn't lose my cool and raise my voice or worse. I was a bit surprised I could be that patient.

Nevertheless, today, once again, this is me: