How do you talk about foods you don't like to your children?

Sweet corn and corn on the cob have always been tricky for me. For a big chunk of my childhood, I used to say I didn’t like it.

After growing up, I tried giving it a go a few times. To my surprise, I really enjoyed the flavour, but the side effects were such a killer, that I decided it wasn’t worth the nice taste.

And ever since, I’ve always been the one to jokingly pull out faces whenever corn on the cob or sweet corn were mentioned in a conversation.

After becoming a mum and starting to introduce solids to my son, I decided I wasn’t going to influence his food choices based on my own personal preferences… until I found myself confronted with corn on the cob being served in a family meal at my in-laws.

Would he like it? Would he have the same awful side effects I do? Everyone else on the table was enjoying it, so I decided to contain myself, remain neutral and let him experience it. Result: he loves it and it’s now an item which is part of our shopping list (much to my partner’s delight who actually has always enjoyed corn on the cob!). And what about me? Well, that’s just another one of those ironies life can bring and I have to deal with!

Children can be real sponges of their environment, so if we want them to have a positive relationship with food, the starting point should be our own relationship with food.

How do you talk about the foods you don’t like/don’t eat? How do your children express themselves about the things they don’t like?