Princess and the Strawberry

We attempt to feed our children healthy food.  But alas as hard as we try, typically they resist eating the good food.  This occurred with both pumpkin and princess about the time they both reached 18 months.  I am hoping that with a bit of age they will eventually outgrow this non-preference for healthy food.  They typically resist fruits and vegetables to my dissatisfaction.  Granted they will eat french fries and applesauce, but I want so much more variety for them.  The problem arises with pumpkin, he refuses to try new foods and will often refuse to eat food that he has once loved (like ham, chicken, green beans).  Princess will see pumpkin refusing his food and tries to follow suit.  

Healthy foods that my children love include yogurt, green olives, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, cheerios, string cheese, bananas, applesauce, pudding, and wheat bread.  Of course, they also love chocolate, bacon, fish sticks, turkey hot dogs, chicken nuggets, french fries, milkshakes, cookies and cupcakes, which are not quite as healthy for them.

I believe that at least a little sample of everything that I serve during our meals should be present on my children's plates.  This evening our meal started off with pumpkin shrilling and shrieking because he had a few chunks of strawberry on his plate.  My husband gallantly saved his son and removed the strawberries, so he would be free to eat his bacon and french toast.  Personally, I would of left the strawberries on there regardless of the tantrum.  So now my job of getting princess to try the strawberries became more difficult.  

I forked my own strawberry and licked it a few times with a big smile on my face trying to make a game out of it, then gobbled it up.  So princess decided to at least try to lick the strawberry.  After a few licks, she decided to maybe try it and then gobbled it up with a big smile.  I succeeded in getting her to eat about four chunks of strawberry, which is a real feat.  I was successful this evening with my little princess.  Hope is once again restored for the future.