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Can anyone please give me any tips on persuading my son to eat the lovely fresh eggs that my chickens have started to produce. He insists he will only eat the ones from the shop, even though we've explained that they all come from chickens.
Tricking him that we bought his egg from the shop isn't an option. It's been 6 weeks now.

Thanks
Tracey

Hi,

Maybe try baking a cake with your eggs in, his sweet tooth might just help.

Good Luck, Mandy

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No mater when time you set out, you always get there at the same time

How does he know it didn't come from the shop?

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Is there a particular reason he's objecting?

I would agree cooking with them might be a first step.

I do use them in cakes, add to mash and he doesn't question if i've used our eggs or the shops. I think this is because the eggs aren't obvious. We eat a lot of boiled, fried and poached eggs and he refuses to eat them. Since our hens have started laying regulary I've not bought any shop eggs and he just goes without.

Wash the eggs and put them in supermarket cartons!

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Dwell simply ~ love richly

I've explained to him that the shop eggs are layed by chickens in the same way as ours.

OH took him fishing last year. They caught some trout and Sam refused to eat them, even though he's eaten all sorts of fish before and after.

I thought it would be interesting for him to really see where his food really comes from. I just hope he eat's my veggies this year and doesn't insist on shop carrots!

It's not just about him eating them, I want him to be aware of what he's eating.

He's 10 by the way.

How old is he? On the carrot topic, if you start buying the ones with tops on from the shops (just now and again coz they cost loads more) then he will be used to seeing them with dirt on and greenery attached, that might make him less suspicious of home grown. I would suggest growing some peas and encouraging him to 'pinch' some pods to enjoy the scrummy sweet peas inside.

I can understand the fish thing but not the egg one.

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Maybe just don't make an issue of it. Just serve eggs and avoid answering the where they came from questions for a bit. I remember my folks rearing chooks for the table and us kids being determined we wouldn't eat them. Then one night we had chicken for dinner and just ate without question, next day we realised there were no chooks in the yard - too late to kick up a fuss.

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

i haven't eaten a whole egg for 30+ years. will eat them in cakes, pancakes etc but heave if they are recognisable as eggs or smell like eggs. purely psychological as upto the age of about seven i used to relish them, and then just stopped, my OH cant understand how i can cook eggs as well as i can and not eat them afterwards.

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Kernow rag nevra

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits
Albert Einstein

Just be ordinary and nothing special. Eat your food, move your bowels, pass water and when your'e tired go and lie down. The ignorant will laugh at me, but the wise will understand
Bruce Lee

Have you tried asking him why? At 10 he should be able to explain his reasons. If he says they are baby chickens you could explain that eggs only make baby chickens when they are fertilised. We used to keep chickens in the back garden when we were kids and none of us had a problem collecting or eating the eggs. Bit of a different matter when I caught Dad wringing Henrietta's neck for lunch. I went vegetarian for a whole week.

I've asked him why and we joke about it. but he just says that he 'just doesn't'. He knows that we need a cockerel to fertilise the eggs to make baby chicks, he is perfectly happy to eat shop eggs. We will just have to continue to eat them ourselves and hope we can tempt him.

Thanks for listening to me.

Blooming kids eh - who would have them My eldest never ate an egg for years and years because when he was a baby the salmonella scare hit and I didn't wean him onto eggs (only coz mum's hens had all been killed by mr fox). Took me years and years to get him to eat a boiled egg.

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Eggs do seem to be common phobia with kids. My daughter (13) isn't concerned at all that they are from 'our' hens. I remember when I was a child, anything my mum made me eat, I wouldn't eat until I was re-introduced to it at other people house (there's always seemed better).

I would buy some shop eggs for him for the time being. When all the fuss dies down you can start to sneak your own eggs into the supermarket carton. If he continues to go without he may never go back to eating them.

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And when you're back stops aching,
And you're hands begin to harden.
You will find yourself a partner,
In the glory of the garden.

Rudyard Kipling.

Erm... you could always try posting question on the BBC parenting board.
BBC - Parenting Homepage

Would it help if your ten year old and mine met? Hazel loves our hens and has no problem eating the eggs. Perhaps your son would find it easier to explain the problem to someone of the same age?

Cranleigh looks to be about 30-40 mins from here.

Terry

You have to be a bit sneaky with kids. I would go with putting your eggs in a supermarket box. It doesn't sound as though he dislikes eggs per se, but might be involved in a power struggle with you about where they come from... so don't make an issue of it.
~Good luck! (from a fussy egg eater...I hate them runny, but like them hard boiled)

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

Oh Two Sheds, thanks for reminding me I had two hard-boiled eggs in the fridge. (note - HAD) Yumm

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

i'd repack them into s'market boxes. when Sunny D was launched & had loads of tv adverts my DD pestered & pestered in then end i brought a bottle & refilled it everytime, she never knew...........

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The love of gardening is a seed once sown never dies ...

HI Terry, thanks for the offer. I'll see how he goes on. I must tell you though another phobia of Sam's at the moment are girls!