IT'S JUST FREAKING MASHED POTATOES!!

We have a routine every Sunday night after dinner and Zach never lets us forget.  We set the dinner menu for the week, and everyone picks a day and a meal.  Why do we do this you wonder?  For years it was very difficult to get Zach to try new foods or to get him to eat the food we had prepared for dinner.  Often times Zach would have a completely different meal from the rest of us.  Years ago we realized we could not live with making two different meals for dinner and plus Zach needed to learn to try new things.  In general everyone has sensitivities to certain smells and taste, but with autistic children I think that sensitivity is slightly greater than most.

We started with putting new food on his plate with a simple rule, “You have to try everything on your plate.”   We did not expect Zach to finish everything we had him try, but getting him just to try it at times was a battle and a half.  He would object at times just by the appearance of the food and other times he would smell the food before objecting.  There were times that he would try a new food and actually like it and wanted more of it.  The menu was introduced after Zach would come home from school, find out what we were having and either start objecting or had a meltdown, because it was something he did not pick or want. By writing out the dinner menu it visually and mentally prepares Zach for what is to come, and it has made a huge difference at dinner time and at the dinner table. 

As time has passed and Zach has matured his menu selections have grown leaps and bounds, but there is one item he cannot stand to even try.  He will eat potato chips and tater tots, but my word you put mash potatoes on his plate and you are in for dinner time war.  Not sure if it is the texture, smell or taste, but he wants nothing to do with it.  The other night we had mash potatoes and we only wanted him to try it.  You would have thought we were asking him to give us his left kidney or right lung.  Complete meltdown with loud verbal objecting to the point he started yelling, and I had to remove him from the table for a time out.   Forty-five minutes later he calmed down, but due to being so upset he did not eat much dinner at all that night.  All this objecting about mash potatoes from a kid, who once dipped dill pickles in Italian Wedding soup.  IT’S JUST FREAKING MASH POTATOES.   Both of his parents are very stubborn people…so we will try to get Zach to eat mash potatoes again and the next time we plan on having mash potatoes is Thanksgiving.  Dear Zach, thanking you in advance for trying mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving.