My first question!!  Yeay.  So, this comes from my cousin that I grew up with, more of a sister, and here is her question.  I am sure NONE of us have had this problem come up.  RIIGGHHTT!

Got any idea's on how to get your child to try new foods that they're sure they don't like because it's not "kid food"?

Well, I am a huge chart girl.  I love to give kids some kind of visual that they can see and experience in a way that will allow them to have a bit of control over the situation, because, really, that is their pay off.  So, I suggest sitting down with her first and saying something like this. "Sweet heart, I know you don't like trying different kinds of food.  I understand that is a big thing for you.  How about we compromise.  My idea is that you make a chart with five squares for each week of the month.  Sometime, anytime, in that one week, you need to try eating 5 different things you would not usually try.  And, a fair attempt is at least 5 bites.  If after those 5 bites, you decide that you don't like it and don't want to finish it, I am fine with that.  At that point, you can put a sticker (or stamp or color in) one of the squares.  Both you and I will be happy.  But, if you do not give it a fair try, you will not get the sticker and you will recieve a consequence (that you all agree upon, a written list of consequences  would be handy) and then no one will be happy.   If at the end of the week, you have filled up all 5 squares, you can choose from our list of rewards (once again, all agreed upon and written out.)  And likewise, if at the end of the week you do not have all 5 squares filled out, we will be looking on our consequence list and choosing one of those."  

Now, when making your list of rewards and consequences, be sure that every single one on the list is one that you can accomodate and are willing to follow through with.  Don't make it so grand like Disneyland; gum, 5 extra minutes doing something they like, date with daddy, those kinds of things will do just fine.  And consequences do need to be something that will be meaningful to them; something that they won't look at and say, "oh, I can live with that."  And, as always--good luck and let me know what happens. 

Love always, Miss Retta