Picky Eaters

[5yearscouter 52]

What was said by Pappadaddy is true.

I know a lot of kids whose paretnts do.not.cook.at.all

so they have no idea.

Making a roast or pork chops etc is gourmet. soup or stew or chili that isn't from a can is outside of what they've had before except in a restaurant. They do not even know the various things they could cook, so encouraging cooking merit badge [with someone who knows what they are doing of course] and a troop easy to make real food type cookbook would do them wonders.

[qwazse 4342]

Don't forget positive reinforcement. If a youth patrol comes up with something fine, have a prize for "classiest camp meal of the month".

 

It could be a kitchen tool (e.g., garlic press), a novel set of spices, or even a totem for patrol flags. Something the lion share of the boys in your group would proud of.

 

A boy in a neighboring camp fried some asparagus one weekend and was kind enough to share some with me. (I have a knack for visiting other troops when vittles are on!) I made sure to praise him there, and when I saw him on camp staff this summer, and when I saw him out and about with his mom this fall.

 

Likewise, when you are making your chili, be sure to ask some of the boys how they would make it differently.

[Tampa Turtle 1011]

We did the cooking prize most camp outs. Sometimes it is a treat or a something new for the patrol box. However the most prized recognition is the "Golden Spoon"--a spray painted plastic spoon jammed into a wood block. I suppose we could award a gold spoon to hang from their Patrol flags.

[WasE61 23]

Chili? Yeah right, my Scout would have gone hungry...

 

Fact is, with the ADD/ADHD crowd in Scouting, the lack of menu diversity shouldn't be a big surprise. I'll bet just from observations that 40% of my son's troop is ADD/ADHD.

 

The menu boundaries really don't start to break down until about 14-16... and it's slower for ADD/ADHD kids.

 

Unless you have a severe malnutrition problem in your Troop, I wouldn't sweat it. It's not like Chili is a super-food.

 

 

 

 

[Papadaddy 121]

Reminds me of a true story from a Camporee in the mid-80's. We were serving up spaghetti for lunch and a group of Webelos came through the line ... being handed a bowl, one of them pronounced, "I don't eat spaghetti without parmesan cheese". The person serving just said, "Fine" and dumped the bowl back in the pot and said "Next!"

 

The look on the kid's face was priceless.

[Sentinel947 1205]

Lets not stereotype so blatantly here please.

 

Whether or not a child is resistant to trying something new isn't based on ADD/ADHD.

 

 

[perdidochas 658]

Sentinel,

 

Exactly. My son has ADD, and is among the most adventurous eaters in the troop. Now, autistic spectrum kids do tend to be picky eaters. We have one that requires ketchup on everything.

[jpstodwftexas 72]

Very simply put...

The problem stems from Home.

Parents do not rule the House anymore..

 

I have a friend who won't tell her child ...no

Never eats what she cooks.Has to have what he wants each meal.

Watches what he wants

 

 

Growing up...We ate what Mom cooked.otherwise you went hungry till next meal..No snacks allowed. After my dad passed away and mom had to go to work, I took over the cooking at home.

 

So when I joined Scouts, When It came to Cooking on Scout Camp outs I was at odds with them simply because of the food cooked on the first planned camp out after I joined..I hated the simple stuff..After the first time being told if you don't like it you can cook your own..I said fine..I was warned by Scoutmaster camp cooking was not that easy just be warned I might get hungry doing it myself.

 

Our first camp out

Saturday

Breakfast They ate pop tarts..

 

I ate Scrambled eggs with bell peppers, onions and fresh garlic smothered in Shredded Cheese, Peppered Bacon, Jimmy Dean Hot sausage and fresh hot drop biscuits served with Hot Chocolate

 

Lunch

They ate Hot Dogs and Chips and Drank Soda

I had Grilled Chicken Breast with grilled mushrooms, red and yellow bell peppers, garlic and Onions,served over angle hair pasta with a butter sauce, Garlic toast and a green salad, Sun Tea

 

Dinner

They had Hamburgers , chips, and Soda

I had Sirloin Steak, Baked Potato, Steamed Broccoli with cheese sauce and Sweet tea and a Cheery Cobbler

 

Sunday Breakfast..Everyone asked If I had enough to share

We had fresh Hot Pancakes with Syrup, bacon, fried eggs, breakfast potatoes with diced peppers, onions, minced garlic, Fresh hot biscuits

 

Sunday lunch we had stuffed bell peppers, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, fresh salad, garlic toast

 

After that I became what you guys call the Grubmaster..I planned and cooked every single camp out meal till I left the troop to join the Army..Anyone wanting to earn cooking Merit Badge came to me before they went to a MBC

[frankpalazzi 62]

"Reminds me of a true story from a Camporee in the mid-80's. We were serving up spaghetti for lunch and a group of Webelos came through the line ... being handed a bowl, one of them pronounced, "I don't eat spaghetti without parmesan cheese". The person serving just said, "Fine" and dumped the bowl back in the pot and said "Next!"

 

The look on the kid's face was priceless."

 

Simple problems are solved by simple solutions. I wish more folks would go back to that.

[Twocubdad 665]

Funny. Discovering you are not at the center of the universe can be a real eye opener.

 

Rule of thumb -- no one dies of malnutrition over one week of summer camp.

[Cambridgeskip 658]

I agree with the majority of what has been said here. But a cautionary tale, or part of one, it is not my place to divulge the entire story.

 

Beware of eating disorders, anorexia and the like. They are a serious matter and more common in girls than boys but boys do some times suffer with them.

 

Picky eating may not be a case of being obnoxious or fussy. I've dealt with a scout who I thought was just being fussy but eventually turned out to have much more serious issues.

 

Missing a meal as a one off won't kill anyone but if it is happening on a regular basis for one individual keep your eyes open for something more serious and report it through whatever the appropriate channels are your side of the pond.

[IM_Kathy 32]

couple of things...

 

this is the menu - if you do not want to eat it bring a sack meal (no discount for not eating food)

 

no if it's due to religion, special dietary needs, or allergies - then adjustments are suppose to be made. Luckily the only thing we have to deal with in our troop are nuts and meat on fridays of lent.

 

as for getting them to try new things... cooking challenges are good... other thing we've started doing is teaching a new recipe every couple of months or so during a meeting - scout or adult gives instructions and each patrol makes some and when done they eat.

 

Boys use to always make pizza pockets because they didn't know how to make dutch oven pizza - did it once in meeting and now it's a favorite.

 

now that cooking is becoming an eagle badge the boys want some more ideas on how to do backpacking meals so that is coming up in a couple of meetings. They know how to make a lot of the things so it's more on packaging and lowering weight.