If you have a picky toddler, you already know that sometimes whether they eat something has absolutely nothing to do with the actual food.
Apparently, with Devon, color matters.
Regular mashed potatoes?
Not exciting enough.
Bright blue mashed potatoes?
He ate at least three servings. 😂
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| Apparently blue mashed potatoes are a three-serving food. 😂 |
At this point, I’m not questioning toddler logic. I’m just using it to my advantage.
Getting Devon to eat can be a challenge, and sometimes I have to get a little creative.
We had mashed potatoes with dinner, and I decided to make his blue just to see if he’d be more interested in them.
It worked way better than I expected.
He ate one serving. Then another. Then another.
I stopped counting after at least three servings.
No bribery. No negotiating. Apparently all these potatoes needed was a new color.
There are moments in parenting when you just silently agree with the other adult in the room:
Do not question it. Just keep giving him the blue potatoes.
The whole thing immediately made me think about Larry Fleinhardt from Numb3rs and his thing about eating white food.
I used to think that was hilarious.
It’s a little less funny now that I’m over here trying to figure out how to make everything I want my toddler to eat blue. 😅
Potatoes? We’ve got that figured out.
Milk? Also figured out.
Everything else?
Still working on it.
The blue-food situation actually isn’t new around here.
Devon likes to have his own little “coffee,” especially when the adults are having ours.
Before anybody gets concerned, there is no actual coffee and no caffeine in it. 😂
His version is just warm milk with a tiny sprinkle of blue spirulina, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and a splash of non-alcoholic vanilla flavoring.
That’s it.
He gets his own special warm drink and gets to feel like he’s having coffee with us.
This is the blue spirulina I use for Devon’s drinks and food (paid link):
https://amzn.to/4ANycEA
I only use a little sprinkle in his milk. It doesn’t take much to give it that bright blue color he apparently finds so impressive.
I know parents get a lot of advice about picky eating, and sometimes it feels like every toddler meal is supposed to look perfectly balanced and Pinterest-worthy.
That is not always real life.
Sometimes you’re just trying to get your child interested enough in a food to taste it.
For Devon, making the potatoes blue made them fun.
Would he have eaten three servings if they had stayed white?
I seriously doubt it.
And that’s what makes feeding toddlers so ridiculous. The food can be exactly the same, but change the color, shape, plate, cup, or presentation and suddenly it’s acceptable.
Toddler logic makes absolutely no sense.
But if turning mashed potatoes blue gets him to eat three servings, I’m calling that a win.
Please tell me I’m not the only parent doing weird things to get a toddler to eat.
What is the funniest or most random thing you’ve done to convince your child to try something?
And if anyone has figured out how to make broccoli irresistible to a toddler, I’m listening.
Because at this point, if the answer is turn it blue, I will absolutely try it. 😂💙
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