My parents have a story of a friend (a father) who was responsible for feeding his baby boy dinner one day.  The instructions were to pull out the baby food from the fridge, reheat the bowl and simply feed it to the child.  As it turns out, this child is extremely difficult to feed.  He refused to eat and so the father, quite forcefully, made his child eat the entire bowl.  Minutes after consuming his meal, the child became violently ill and spewed his guts (and more) and was admitted to the hospital.  As it really turns out, the contents of the bowl were not baby food, but “Pig’s Fat” (a very common Chinese staple back in the days).  My point?  An unnecessary turn of events could have been avoided had only the father tasted what he was giving his child.

Do you try everything you give your children?  Most people will try temperature (especially in soups and particuarly hot items), but what about other things?  Such as medicines?  Snacks?  Treats other people give your children?  Food the helper’s cooked?  Even food you cook yourself?

I think for toddlers and children, most are able to blanch at horrid tasting stuff, but are they able to distinguish moldy bread (with raisins)?  I’m not talking about a piece of bread completely consumed in mold, but a few spots – which they will mistakeningly confuse with raisins, hmm, unless they are the type of children to pick out the raisins and leave the bread.  But then again, some parents may say “What’s a bit of mold?”  – to which I will say “Only if you use that theory on yourself as well.”

I try to make a point of trying everything I give my children – even stuff I’ve cooked myself.  On the occasion, I will try meds and truth be told, the baby meds (like the meds for Victoria’s colic) tasted dreadful.  I’ve even gone as far as tasting my own breastmilk – merely out of curiosity and wonderment why babies love it so much.  I don’t see any harm in tasting stuff first.  It’s a precaution I take because the ”piggy oil” story sits firmly at the back of my mind.  You’ll also learn a few things through these taste tests – for example:  The same branded EnfaPRO (EnfaMilk in HK) for the same age group tastes completely different.  For some reason, the Asian version is by far sweeter than its North American equivalent – one reason my daughter blanched at switching to the North American version when we were in Toronto.  She eventually grew accustomed to it and I weaned her off formula at a year upon our return to HK.

As fr trying things other people give my children – especially Vanessa since she’s 3, I will try to be tactful.  Most things people give (especially strangers), I will replace with something else and then throw it away – especially candies.  Control freak?  Absolutely – however, I try to replace this rationale with minimizing risk.  I’m cool with her school giving her snacks and drinks and even friends I know can feed my kids, but with strangers, I am particularly cautious. 

Anyways, this post is really food for thought.  How much stuff do you really try?