Convincing a Homesick Four Year Old to Eat New Foods

I need help with my four year old.  He is extremely homesick and hates the food here.  He refuses to try many new things anyway but the tastes of common foods is so different to him that he will only eat crisps, macaroni pies, and  buttered bread.  He does like some lunch meat. That is the extent of his diet right now.  We have been trying for years to make him eat healthy things but refuses to eat fruits or vegetables.  He does drink fruit juice, so he his gettting some vitamin C.  Anyway, any suggestions on products that he might like sold here that aren't junk food? 

Have you tried frozen stuff like fish sticks, chicken nuggets or pizza?  It's not exactly health food, but at least it's got protein and possibly a few lingering vitamins.  Plus, they're pretty hard things to get 'wrong'.  Even if he doesn't like one particular brand, there are always other brands to try til you get one that's familiar enough.

Also, did he like to eat things like yogurt or pudding cups back home?  There are a lot of 'kid's' yogurts available, or regular yogurt that comes with stuff to stir in, etc.  He might like those, or there's also a lot of different mousse/custard deserts.  Those would at least have some calcium.

Are you near and M&S? They have a line of frozen (or chilled, can't recall which) kids meals that aren't full of crap. My son also loved their pots of mini sausages (sold in the chilled section).

Will he eat eggs? Maybe 'dippy eggs' with 'soldiers'. Or take him to a farm where he can help buy free range eggs and then make them the way he likes them?

Also, give him time before you implement this since he's going through so much new stuff, but with my VERY picky 4 year old, I got to the point where it was NO dessert until he ate some of his fruit and/or veg. Now he's asking for seconds on things like carrots and cucumbers! But you have to learn their refusal point. Sammy hates green beans and cherry tomatoes. So for now, I don't try those anymore.

What specifically is he missing?

Thanks for the great advice!  He is into fried eggs now instead of scrambled.  He likes to eat ham, egg and chips when we go out and is starting to dip his chips into the yolk.  He does refuse to eat yogurt but had a frozen yogurt tube at a friend's house this week and loved it despite that it was apricot flavored.  I will have to put my foot down and insist that he have fruits and vegies.  He's just so hard headed and irritable that I give into him way to much to not have to hear him ask for hours upon end why he can't have this or that.    

One thing I tried in the states was letting him have cream cheese dip for apples and grapes, but that was another failed effort.  I've also tried sprinkling sugar or stevia on fruit to make it even sweeter, but he licks the sugar out of the bowl and leaves the fruit behind.  He loves garlic bread so I've tried to serve him green beans with garlic salt.  I don't have a lot of cooking experience here and I'm finding it very different than what I'm used to.  I think maybe as I get used to it my family will have to try new things. 

Also, give him time before you implement this since he's going through so much new stuff, but with my VERY picky 4 year old, I got to the point where it was NO dessert until he ate some of his fruit and/or veg. Now he's asking for seconds on things like carrots and cucumbers! But you have to learn their refusal point. Sammy hates green beans and cherry tomatoes. So for now, I don't try those anymore.

I wholeheartedly second this. I agree that it's best to wait a little bit while he's adjusting. It's a big change for a child. But when he's had time to settle in, I suggest trying balmerhon's advice.

My 6 year old daughter eats every veggie and fruit I put in front of her. The last biggest hurdle we got over was salad. I'm a very health-conscious person, as I have lost a significant amount of weight through diet and exercise and I never want to gain it back. And I am trying to avoid my daughter having the fat childhood I did. So I made this a priority.

We do have dessert every evening, a 100 calorie ice cream. But it’s enough of a treat for her to finish whatever I tell her she has to finish to get it. Other than this, tricks that worked for me were to add a little low calorie whipped cream to fruit, or add a little spray butter to veggies. (My fiancé recently informed me that this is not available in the UK, but perhaps there is a similar substitute?) We also used to have veggie races at dinner...she is competitive so I would challenge her to see who could finish their veggie the fastest. Also, when it was something new she didn’t like, I told her to take a bite and use her drink to help her swallow it down. And above all, they need to see you eating it and enjoying it. Because they want to copy you!

Hope that helps.

Carrie

We have been here 8 months and my now 4 year old still struggles a bit with food.  At that age it appears that changing the look of the food in anyway makes it different.   We were big trader Joe's shoppers so nothing really comes packaged like that here.   So the question is what did he like/ that is making him homesick.  I have been, through trial and error, able to recreate some kids classics here.  It does take more work.  Also where are you living and what is your access to food choices?  What has been successful to some extent was letting her walk around and pick up what she thought she would like try and buy it even if you don't think she would like it.   We have really struggled with proteins besides eggs because they taste so different.  We bought a grill and that helped to make it taste a bit more like home because the cooking style was the same.    I am a pretty good cook so if there is something you are trying to recreate from the US, let me know and I will see if I can come up with an option.     Also give it time - there are so many changes and kids don't let themselves starve. 

Well, my stepson is 4 and was born here, and he is a very healthy eater (he will actually pull a whole cucumber or tomato from the fridge and just start muching, so he takes his veg to the extreme... haha). So I don't worry too much about his vitamins, since he mostly just eats fruits and veg, but he doesn't like many protein foods and he still doesn't like my cooking very much, although he enjoys helping me. One thing he loves is to pop popcorn with me. I just put a bit of oil in the pan, he stands on a chair and pours some kernels in, and then he gets to put the lid on and watch it pop. I just put a little bit of salt on it and he eats a huge bowl by himself.

Other than that, he will eat spaghetti bolognese (though he likes marinara better or cheese ravioli from the tin), fried eggs on toast, fried rice (I once made pork fried rice and cut all the meat into really small bits and he loved it), fish cakes (sometimes he eats my homemade ones but he prefers the frozen ones, to my dismay), hot dogs from the tin, Birds Eye chicken dippers and fish fingers (he didn't eat my homemade chicken nuggets), meatballs from the tin (again, he didn't like my homemade ones - are you sensing a theme here?), and he likes grilled cheese sandwiches with ketchup. He will also eat most of the veg on a Sunday dinner and the Yorkshire puddings, but not the meat or potatoes.

Have you tried him on grilled cheese sandwiches or cheese quesadillas? I don't know what to do about the vegetables and fruit, but for my stepson, I usually just don't allow him to eat any junk food within two hours of his meal so that he is hungry enough to eat it, and if he asks for something in particular (yoghurt or ice lolly or whatever) then I tell him he can have it after he eats some of his dinner. It seems to work ok for us. We do spoil him a bit since we only have him every other weekend and let him just graze through the day sometimes, since he will mix in fruits and vegetables with his junk food on his own. Maybe you could try chocolate covered strawberries or things like that to see if he will try the new foods, then he might find he likes them.

chicken drumsticks
small frozen ears of corn on the cob (Aldis have them- 8 halves in a bag for 99p)
quiches with ham or bits of broccoli, spinach
avocado, grapefruit
cheese sticks
granola bars
applesauce

or add a little spray butter to veggies. (My fiancé recently informed me that this is not available in the UK, but perhaps there is a similar substitute?

Tesco, Aldi, Sainsbury's (and probably more chains) sell various butter sprays. Look near the cooking oil.

I'm sure when everyone starts to adjust it will be easier for him.

The diet isn't great, but it isn't that bad either for short term.  Protein, juice, grains.  Maybe try some of those fruit smooties to get some fiber and maybe ones with yogurt?

Try not to worry too much.   

I don't have children, but I did have issues with eating when I was younger because I was depressed because of things going on at home.

I couldn't eat at home, but I had no trouble eating at school or in other people's homes.


Is it possible that it isn't just that he's not eating because he doesn't like British food, but because he is already homesick and he associates the food with homesickness (feeling bad)?

Would it help if you changed his environment sometime and let him eat in an environment that is fun and happy for him, so he associates the food with having fun and being happy?

For example, take him to the park and bring some chicken drumsticks along in a bag with you (just using one of Grace's food  suggestions as an example).

Also, give him time before you implement this since he's going through so much new stuff, but with my VERY picky 4 year old, I got to the point where it was NO dessert until he ate some of his fruit and/or veg.

We did something similar with my son. At mealtimes he had to eat a minute bit of everything we were eating (one slice of carrot, one tiny piece of meat etc, before he was allowed bread and peanut butter (which he would have lived on). He also got a star on a chart every time he did this, and was allowed a small treat  at the end of the week if he had enough stars. He soon started to find he liked more and more things.