I have had mindee for 15 mths and she has just turned 2. Until beginning of feb all mindees brought their own packed lunches and teas, but at the start of Feb I began to offer lunches for £1.
Obviously I strive to offer a healthy lunch which always includes fresh fruit, but this particular mindee is just refusing to eat or even try any of it. I have offered banana, apple, melon, grapes, pineapple, blueberries, strawberries, oranges, pears, cucumber, tomatoes, etc.
She is a 'larger size', shall we say, and so is Mum, although the lunches she used to bring were fairly healthy - usually a homemade dinner that had been whizzed in the processor but with lots of veg. But she never brought fresh fruit, just those fruit puree pots which although seemingly healthy are very concentrated and therefore quite sugary and sweet. She still brings one of those AND a fromage frais for pudding at tea time.
The annoying thing is I have watched her eat little pieces of grapes, banana and apple at toddler group snack times but she refuses point blank to eat them at home, even when all the other mindees are wolfing theirs down!
I think she is certainly being offered alot of the wrong sort of foods at home and has a taste for them - eg she brings quite a large pot of snacks everyday full of crisps (ok they are the Goodies 'toddler' crisps, but crisps all the same, biscuits etc) even though I provide all snacks. I have been sending this pot home untouched to try to hint to Mum but I think she just lets mindee have it on the way home
Other than just keep offering her fruit at mealtimes I don't know what else to do. I don't think making purees or smoothies out of the fruit would help as I think she needs to get into the habit of eating and enjoying fresh fruit as it comes. I am so unused to it as both my own boys love fruit and have always eaten very healthily. It is just very frustrating!!!
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