When my daughter turned 3, she suddenly became a picky eater. She only wants to drink milk, soup, French fries, rice, and chicken nuggets.
As a parent, we were so worried about her health and well-being so we tried all the different techniques on how to feed her healthy food. We tried tough love by starving her and eat what’s in the table.
We also bought her cute utensils paired her favorite cartoon character plates and bowls. We even bribed her with gadget, too. And because we were so desperate, we resorted to “blendered” soup food. We use a high speed blender to blend meat broth, rice, vegetable, meat, and fish. This maybe very healthy but we cannot continue doing this because she won’t learn how to chew and swallow.
I researched and stumbled upon these cute Japanese bento and plated bento containing a single small portion of a balanced meal. It usually consists of bread, rice or noodles for carbohydrates, meat and fish for protein, assorted vegetables and fruits for additional vitamins.
After a month of thorough research, that’s when I decided to start my bento journey for my daughter. I bought lunch boxes, her favorite cartoon character cookie cutters, colorful silicone cups and cute food picks and tiny forks. I used these to create cute and appetizing meals and in order for her to eat variety of food.
At home, I do different rice bento for her. Her favorite is the cute Pikachu I made! I use mashed hardboiled eggs to color the rice yellow and some seaweeds for the eyes and other decors. She also ate the carrots without a fuss that I put on Pikachu’s face which she didn’t notice.
At school, she uses her favorite lunchboxes packed with cute shaped bread or rice, steamed vegetables, sliced fruits, and her favorite biscuits or sweets for dessert.
She was so happy while excitedly telling me that some of her teachers and classmates envy her snacks because of the presentation, plus those tiny little forks and food picks I used for her fruits and vegetables!
And now that she is already 9 years old she is not picky eater anymore. I now do bento for his little brother and seldom make her anymore. But if she wishes to have those cute bento once again, I’d be willing to do it for her.