Every day or so I get a new Avalon picture, because the kids are great sports. I try not to bug them too much. But I am addicted to the little girl. She eats regular food as shown in one of the recent pics, and it reminds me of the days when we ran a home daycare.

Back in the day we tracked what we called “Adventure Bites.” Sometimes we had 12 kids at our dinner table (Chris was licensed as well so it was a group daycare in our home). It’s very difficult to create a healthy meal at which all the kids are happy with all on their plate. Tired of the complaining, we created a game.

We explained to the kids that tastes change over time. Time for some testing. Everyone tried at least one bite of everything on their plate. After each bite, they rated the taste with a thumbs up or down. Charting the results added to the experience. A fun way to educate on tracking and charts.

It worked. Over the years our kids saw changes. Their menus expanded. The kids/young adults started liking things they hadn’t before and were much more open to trying new things.

Once grown and facing the world on their own, some expressed they were at business dinners or met family of significant others and were offered new-to-them food choices.

No longer hesitant about new experiences, they tap into the memory to the Adventure Bite. It worked better than we expected.