Somebody posted this challenge on a Facebook group I belong to, and here was the answer I posted:

a.) Embark upon a lifelong mission of trying to give up all hope of control.

b.) Offer my son a variety of foods per meal.

c.) Try to suggest gently that he try things but not make a big stink of it if he doesn't.

d.) Make sure each meal has one thing that I know he likes so I don't have to worry that I sent him to bed without dinner but--

e.) Don't make things per order. If he eats his PBJ, ignores his carrots and watermelon and asks for another PBJ, he doesn't get one.

f.) Reward trying new foods/generally being a good guy with a small dessert.

g.) Try not to use dessert as a bribe (I don't do this but my husband does sometimes.)

So basically we have a kid who mostly eats kid stuff and SOMETIMES tries stuff that is good for him but moreover we are getting better about not letting it exhaust us. And also sometimes giving him a silly straw to drink tomato soup helps.

I don't know why trying to get a child to eat is so trying. It's not like children are known for being great eaters. I think we just live in fear of raising a person who will only want to eat Doritos for every meal (note to self: eat Doritos before this pregnancy is over) and passing on our food weirdness to our kids. But most of us made it here, voluntarily eating salad and fruit at times, so it'll probably work out. Right?

Unrelated reading for today: I did a fun interview with romance novelist Gwyn Cready for the University of Chicago's Core.