The Wii Ticket

For years we have bribed, threatened, begged, pleaded, paid off, and everything else we could think of, to get our children to try new foods.  (If you remember the hot sauce pay off.)  This always made for an extremely unpleasant dinner experience.  The other day, on a whim, Adam announced to the kids that we would play the Wii after dinner.  But, they would need a ticket.  This greatly intrigued the kids.  He held up a yellow bell pepper.  "This is your ticket."  Houston and Hayes dropped their mouths wide open and their eyes grew very large in disbelief.  Then Adam explained the rules.

Rules:
Whoever eats their 'ticket' then partakes in a family team tournament of Mario Kart just before bed.  It is their choice whether to eat the item or not.  Hawkins is currently exempt from the game since he is not old enough to play the Wii, though we still offer him the ticket.  (He usually declines.)

Both boys chomped down their pepper as soon as it landed on their plate.  This was their first time ever having a bell pepper.  They made the goofiest faces while chewing it and quickly finished it off by gulping the rest of their beverage.  They both said they liked it, however, declined any seconds.

We never intended to take the ticket any further than that first night.  But apparently we were on to something because the kids loved it.  So much so, that the next night they were the ones inquiring about the ticket.  "What's our ticket tonight?" they asked.

Since then, they have tried pickles, asparagus, and all sorts of things that they would otherwise turn their noses at.  None of which they have asked for seconds on.

Yesterday, to switch things up a bit, their ticket was more of a step of faith.  It was a Gobstopper, but they didn't know that.  They had to close their eyes and let us drop it in their mouth.  Once they hesitantly opened their mouth and realized it was candy, they laughed.

Our new game is so much fun and it gets them trying things that we would normally have to threaten their lives to get in their mouths.  Then, as a reward, we all enjoy a fun race, working together and team building.  We are also able to teach them about encouraging one another.  Hawkins even plays along using the steering wheel and pretends to drive.  It has become a nightly tradition.  We look forward to having them try more things like zucchini, salad, and brussel sprouts.





**Disclaimer: we never ask them to eat anything that neither of us would eat ourselves.