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What do you do with a picky eater?  I don’t even classify my daughter as a picky eater, more like a stubborn eater.  I love my daughter, who turned 9 in October.  She does well in school, she’s awesome at any activity we put her in, she’s friendly, outgoing and very popular with her teachers and fellow students.  There are only two things that my wife and I struggle with her on, eating and time management.

The time management issue is frustrating but we’re implementing systems to improve it.  Time management when coupled with eating pegs our frustration meter.  I don’t know how many times my wife and I have emphasized (quite loudly on occasion) that “it shouldn’t take 45 minutes to eat a (insert dinner item here).”  Short of physically feeding her, there isn’t much we can do to speed up the process.  We set the timer on the microwave and if she doesn’t eat her dinner in a certain amount of time she doesn’t get dessert.  Some nights it matters, some nights it doesn’t.  This isn’t the most effective way of handling our problem and suggestions are certainly welcome.

Getting back to her palette in general…

She’s had PB&J on wheat (she’d prefer white bread, but what kid wouldn’t) for lunch every day since first grade.  I’m surprised that the repetition of lunch hasn’t worn out sooner than this year.  Jordan says she doesn’t want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich anymore, so I asked her to think of something she does want.  Her response is typical of a child her age, “I don’t know.”  I asked her to survey what her friends are eating for lunch and until she decides, she’ll continue to receive the PB&J.  Instead, she now has a “tab” going with the school lunch lady.  Evidently the lunch lady lets my daughter have a school lunch on a “bring me the money tomorrow” basis. 

Yesterday, I put a ham and American cheese sandwich on white bread in my daughter’s pink soccer ball lunch box.  Guess what I found last night.  Not only did I find the sandwich, I found the peanut butter granola bar with a nibble taken off the corner.  I have two issues with this:

1)    She wasted the sandwich and granola bar

2)    What DID she eat?

I confronted her on the lunch this morning and asked her what she ate yesterday.  School lunch was chicken nuggets – battle lost.  I then confirmed that she owes the lunch lady $2.  I told her to take $4 because I’m not going to make her lunch today if she’s going to waste my time and money (she pays for the lunch out of her money).  My plan backfired when I saw that school lunch was grilled cheese today.

My wife and I are in agreement that it is all or nothing when it comes to school lunch.  We aren’t going to tolerate her eating school lunches on a pick and choose basis, if she’s going to eat there she’s going to eat there everyday.  But at the same time, we don’t want her to be hungry because it won’t do anyone any good.

This is the part where I ask for help.  What has anyone done to solve similar problems with their children?  What hasn’t worked?  What are your thoughts? 

Again - i'm not a mother.

This blog has been inspired by a number of things, most notably the iPhone. 

Any professional business person has a smart phone now a days.  Black Berry, Samsung, Palm, LG, and most recently Motorola's Droid are standard examples.  But none of them seem to hold a candle to iPhone owners.  I am currently shopping for a better phone and poll almost everyone I see on how they like their phone.  So far  206 our of 207 people i've asked who own an iPhone say "I LOVE MY PHONE."  Okay, maybe not over 200, but "I love my phone" were their first four words.  The next iPhone user you come across ask them this question, "How do you like your phone?"  Try it, I dare you.

What makes you "love" something?  We all love our children, our pets and our spouses (though my wife would tell you some days more than others).  But what makes you love something material?

Getting back to the iPhone, I visited the Apple store in the Arden Mall to actually play with their toys.  I've never owned a Apple or Mac product and have always associated Apple & Mac with the "creative brained" people.  Anytime i've used one, I've wanted to cry because i'm VERY analytical and they're so different from what I'm used to with a PC.  After an hour of being there, I told the girl who was helping me that I wanted to hug her and I can honestly say I love their phone.

But that wasn't necessarily just the phone.  I wanted to hug the girl that was helping me.  How often have you said that walking out of McDonalds, Best Buy or Kaiser?  It was the service I received coupled with the product that pushed me from like to love.

On my profile page, I listed some of the websites I visit regularly.  One is www.satoriacademy.com or Kovar's martial arts webpage.  I love this company.  I love this company because of the values and morals they instill in all of their students, from barely walking to short of needing a walker.  My daughter took to it immediately and i've never seen her so focused.  Truthfully, teaching her martial arts comes in a distant second to teaching her how to be a respectable contributor to society - better than I EVER could.

At Kovar's, my daughter receives quality training and amazing service and I love them for that reason.

I also love Oakley sunglasses.  Well, I used to - I haven't bought a pair for a few years because i'm trying to wear out the 4 pair I already own and i'm not that crazy about the new styes.  But i won't wear anything else.  In the past i've compared Oakley to Arnette, Smith, Nike and numerous other glasses with similar styling.  Oakley felt more comfortable, sturdy, had better polarization (if yours aren't polarized, get some because you'll never go back) and i've never had a problem with Oakley's customer service replacing parts.  So I love Oakley for their quality and service.  Hmm, a pattern.

So what do you love?  Why do you love it?  Who told you about it?  How did you find out about it?  Do you refer this love to your friends and family?  If not - why not? 

Matt