"If you're a parent, you don't have time to read cookbooks." Hey guys! Thanks for adding to the myth that parents have no other interests outside their children, and that children consume 100% of a parent's time and attention!

Amen, MegP!

One wonders if this would work. My cousin absolutely refuses to eat anything but french fries and chicken fingers. We tried to get her to eat some chocolate and she freaked out like she was gagging after just touching her tongue to it. Kid makes the feat so HUGE in her head that she refuses to do it.

I don't think that's what they meant megp. I am a parent and b/c I do have many interests/activities and also want to devote time to my child as well, I don't have have as much time as I did (pre-child) to make elaborate meals. If the book has good ideas to satisfiy everyone, this could be very helpful.

I haven't looked inside this cookbook, but i used to read these guys' blog. And while they have some creative ideas, I found their writing style to be a little too preachy and condescending. It was like they were talking down to me, because my kid is not as adventurous as their kids when it comes to trying vegetables and new foods.

It's great that their kids eat kale and broccoli, but if you have a kid who refuses to eat, I wouldn't look to these guys for any advice.

i have this book, and it's good from a philosophical standpoint. i didn't find them to be too preachy; they gave some good guidelines to get kids to eat real food. (i also confess that i am a parent-to-be in a few weeks, so ask me in a year how things are going ;))

many of the recipes in here are not overly complex but instead support the authors' ideas on what real food is.

overall, i found it interesting as a not-yet-parent who looks at the landscape of traditional "kid foods" and is horrified.

I am torn as to whether or not I want this book. My 21 month old daughter is a former enthusiastic eater that would gladly take down whatever was placed in front of her. We fed her what we ate and she gobbled it up. I was so smug thinking that we had an adventurseome eater with an advanced palette. How naive I was! Now her eating habits are more along the lines of the standard picky toddler and I am finding myself feeding her PB&J sandwiches and applesauce cups for dinner just so she doesn't go to sleep hungry. We still offer her everything we eat with the hopes that something sticks and there are times it does.So, I am not giving up hope that we will raise a child that doesn't like just the typical standard "kid food" fare (mac-n-cheese, chicken nuggets, etc.). I like the idea of the book but would rather pore over cookbooks and food magazines for recipes that would just as soon appeal to the parents as the child.

As a non-parent, what did people feed their children before chicken nuggets and mac-and-cheese in a box were invented? Is "picky eater syndrome" a function of what people feed to kids these days, or are chicken nuggets and mac-and-cheese how people deal with an inevitable part of childhood? Just curious and not at all judgmental (having witnessed many of my friends at their wits' end because their kids would NOT eat anything).

heatherk - I am a parent, and you are dead on. A child's behaviour is greatly influenced by the behaviour, actions and reactions of the parent. My 8 year old has rarely balked at anything - tomatoes for a while, but now he's all over those. If he didn't like something, I didn't force him to eat it - I don't force myself to eat stuff I don't like. By letting my son see my behaviour towards food (I enjoy it...), he has developed an appreciation for different foods and a healthy craving for variety. Sometimes my son will want to eat lighter or heavier, and I will accommodate that. I give my child quality food. If he chooses not to eat (because of a bad mood, or whatever), that is his prerogative. He'll either get hungry and eat later, or he'll just not eat.

I'm always shocked by parents that cave in a heartbeat and whip out the peanut butter or macaroni when their kid complains a little. (Then again, a these same parents often speak to their children like they are puppies - not intelligent creatures).

My kid alternates between eating everything and eating nothing... or eating only raisins, etc. She's almost 2 and I believe she is exercising her meager rights by deciding if she wants to eat something. On the other hand, I do not offer her a multitude of options once she decides not to eat the first 2 or so meals I offer her. Sometimes I don't give her a choice (especially if I know I am offering a meal comprised of foods she normally loves). If she won't eat it, I am not going to cook 20 things just to beg her to eat. She won't starve by missing half or an entire meal. Sometimes she absolutely eats PB and J for dinner, and other times she eats the veggies out of our chicken stir fry, and other times she eats only the apple slices that were supposed to be her dessert. Eventually she evens out.

i don't believe in serving children special prepared foods - no, I don't have children of my own, but I was a nanny so i think I should have fair say. Children that are catered to DO end up being very picky. Some kids that aren't still end up that way too. I don't believe in special food offerings to kids though unless you are serving something that really isn't appropriate to them as in a REALLY spicy dinner. I do think that parents need to stand firm and not order things off the offered kids menu at restaurants and that they need to stick to the same policy at home unless it is soemthing that the whole house is eating at that meal.

My kids eat whatever is placed on their plate... they all have a hand in the cooking... I am all for involving short chefs!!!
I think this looks like a fun book and would inspire my kids to try their hand at new recipes... I will definitely look out for it locally.

When I grew up I ate what my parents put on my plate, there was no special meal of chicken nuggets or mac and cheese.

It has been proven that you are born only liking salty and sweet, you have to "learn" to like other flavors and this learning process may take up to 15 tries. How many time do you find that foods you didn't care for as a child you now like as an adult? That is because you finally tried them enough.

I think parents cave far to easily with their kids instead of trying to make sure they eat a well-balanced meal, yes including foods the kids don't like.

@Astur, I appreciate your comments but being a nanny in a previous life does not give you fair say. Being paid to raise someone else's kid is vastly different than raising your own.
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Our daughter (4 yrs) gets the same food as the adults. We've had success with telling her that she has to have one bite of every different food on her plate before she can eat her backup meal of yogurt & granola. We're lucky that she's been an adventurous eater so far - - she rarely goes for the yogurt and often realizes that she actually likes the food that she thought she wouldn't. Also, we've worked a lot on the concept of 'appreciate the cook' and using appropriate words to let someone know that you don't want to eat something.

FWIW, I was an extremely picky eater as a child and am so thankful that my parents accommodated me. Once I went to college I started eating practically anything and food/cooking became a passion. I'm so glad that I didn't grow up feeling that the dinner table was a battleground.