Just a picky eater?

[CA_Scouter]

re-reading my response, it looks more harsh than I intended it to be....

 

Apologies. It struck a nerve because I had a similar situation that I was not able to resolve successfully so I'm perhaps a bit frustrated. I hate to lose a scout... ;-(

 

 

[eghiglie]

We also lost a scout because of eating issues. His diet was very picky and his mom supported his belief, I learned after the 5th trip that he very rarely ate on a campout.

 

The boy made it to 2nd class, and at summer camp he ate very little and was sick most of the week at the health lodge. Agreed that summer camp food is often bad.

 

The boy would just look at the tray and never try anything, but ate a ton of candy from the trading post. His mom came up to check on him and they decided to go home.

 

He is a good kid and goes hunting with his dad but not sure what they eat.

[shortridge]

If the doctors truly haven't found anything, his parents likely won't be able to find one to write a note. In the absence of an underlying condition, I'm going to go with the coddled-since-birth theory.

 

For the time being, just advise the PL to put an extra bag of bagels and a few apples and oranges on the shopping list. He'll be fine. If he keeps complaining, his patrolmates will just tune him out, and he'll realize that his little game isn't cute any more and isn't making him any friends.

 

Another educational option is to have this Scout design a patrol menu for the weekend, just as a personal project, that meets his "criteria." The only rules: It has to contain all appropriate backpacking foods and meet the food pyramid nutrition recommendations. He'll quickly see that he's not going to be able to keep this up and do the really fun Scouting stuff.

[SMT224]

oldsm - We have a high functioning aspy with dietary issues that sound a bit similar to your "picky" Scout.

 

However, his dietary issues are not in anyway a problem or disruptive to the Troop, camping trips, or summer camp. On any outing where we eat, he brings his own food in a little cooler. His mom plays a significant role in packing and preparing his food for all camping trips, as she does at summer camp.

 

At summer camp she meets with the cook and kitchen staff to discuss his diet and leaves them with a cooler full of food for the week. The kitchens at all camps we have stayed at have been very accommodating and things have worked out fine. No doctors notes were necessary they completely understood Aspergers food issues. He has no problem eating his food at the table with the rest of us, and we have no problem that he brings his own food.

 

As one of our best Patrol Leaders, he works with his Scouts to develop a menu that satisfies everyone for our regular monthly camping trips, and then fully participates in cooking and cleaning up. Sometimes he eats Patrol food; sometimes he only eats his own food. On our last camping trip, he cooked chicken in the dutch oven, and when later I asked him how it was, he didnt miss a beat and said, I dont know, I dont eat chicken.

 

When he first joined the Troop, I reacted much as other posters here have... I was appalled that we were going to have a picky eater in the Troop and that his mother was so involved in his food and enabled his pickyness. My initial attitude was not to accommodate or coddle him, and I figured once he got hungry enough hed eat. But several things have changed my mind set over the past three years. Mainly this involved understanding that this is one of the many ways his Asperger's manifests itself. From this vantage point, this kid is not so much picky as simply unable to deal with some foods, and very comfortable with other foods.

 

But at this point in time, his food issues matter not, as he (and his mom) deals with his issues in a way that have no impact on anyone else in the Troop he does not whine or complain, and gets plenty to eat.

 

But the first year was not so easy it took time to work out the kinks and figure out how to accommodate his issues without impacting everyone else. Part of this was my fault in that I had initially decided not to do any kind of accommodation. When I eventually realized that allowing him to have his own food was not the end of the world and let things settle out, it was not so bad at all.

 

Of course my case may be completely different than yours, and things may not work out as well as we have experienced. Nevertheless, I suggest you give him a chance, and since mom sounds like shes more than happy to enable his food issues, consider working with her to set up ways he can have fun, be active in the Troop, and eat what he likes.

 

Good luck.

 

[ScoutNut]

Asperger's was my first thought also when texture problems were mentioned. However, with a Psychologist for a mother, who states that he has been tested, and evaluated, by multiple doctors who can find nothing wrong, either he is really just spoiled, or the parents simply are not being truthful.

 

You mention him being skinny, whiney, and sickly.

 

Does he have any other unusual behaviors besides his eating?

 

Does he seem to have problems communicating? Problems relating to the other boys? Is he obsessive about things other than food? Does he hold extended conversations with himself? Does he have a problem with noises, lights, and different types of clothing?

 

If he has problems in any of these areas then it is a very good possibility his parents are not being completely honest about his being undiagnosed. I would have an honest conversation with the parents on the importance of being kept in the loop on any health issues.

 

If his eating habits (and his sicklyness from not eating properly) are his only problems, then I would concentrate on having him work with his Patrol to plan healthy campout menus that incorporate things he can eat. Besides fulfilling requirements, planning, preparing and cooking meals might very well help him deal with (or at least manage) his food issues.

 

 

 

 

[dewASM]

I think I see this as 2 different issues

 

1. A picky eater. I have one of those. My son will not eat any food mixed together - never has. No soup or stew. It sorta freaks him out. Doesn't even like food to touch. It is a running joke in the troop about pea juice touching James' potatoes. At home, he sometimes uses 2 plates. however, he eats lots of other things - hot dogs, bologna sandwiches, grilled cheese, pasta etc, etc. I also have 2 brothers in the troop who don't do hot dogs at all. We always have some extra pbj or bologna and no one starves. The first campout James went on as a webelos, I think he ate bread and butter at every meal. He didn't starve and they still laugh about it. So okay he's a little odd in his food habits but he also doesn't complain and finds a way to manage.

 

2. A child who is ill and whiny. My son has his food idiosyncrasies but he is healthy. Plays modified soccer and basketball and varsity tennis and golf. On the last 6 mile hike he led the way and ended up carrying many other people's things. His first year at camp, he picked at some of his food and filled in with bread (he is a little better these days) but he never visited the nurse and is the last to tire out. I would be concerned about a child with little energy and an inability to keep up with his peers.

 

I wish I had a great suggestion, but I don't except that I think you probably have more than one issue with this Scout. Good Luck!

 

 

[Nike]

Most parents who have children diagnosed with autism, Asperger's, or ADHD, will quietly tell the SM so that no one is shocked by the attendant behaviours. And, they usually want their child to be treated and held accountable as much as any other Scout or at least as much as that boy can handle.

 

Maybe these particular parents are in denial. They could also have the kid who is just hard to deal with about everything and giving in to all his idiosyncracies makes thier life at home easier.

 

If he does have a physical problem, I wonder if it's one of the real medical zebras.

[evmori]

I would agree the kid is just a spoiled brat!

 

I would not make any exception to the menu to accommodate this kids since it seems trying to accommodate him is a moving target!

[walk in the woods]

SMT224,

 

Thank you for your response regarding aspy scouts. The fact that you're using "aspy" tells me you've spent some time getting to understand this boy and he's likely better off because you have.

 

My aspy scout carries his own food, sleeps in his own tent, and participates in all the events. He is on the patrol duty roster and understands that if he's the cook, he cooks for everybody else then makes his own sandwiches or whatever he's having for his meal. He carries his weight in the patrol and his own accomodations to boot. It's a minor issue and the other scouts don't give two hoots either way. The scouts accomodate special needs ever so much easier than adults.

 

As for setting a precendent, it won't. In our experience the other scouts don't want their own food because they see the extra work it causes him.

 

The biggest problems with parents of aspy kids, denial. That's what I read in this thread. Recruit mom to help. If it's just picky eating she'll tire of the extra work. If it's Asperger's she'll gladly help so her son can have a good experience.

 

[DenZero]

Reading about the scout at the beginning of the thread reminds me of my own son. He is very similar in his pickyness. He is a second class Scout, and at summer camp and weekend campouts he is able to get enough PBJ and Pop Tarts to subsist on. I worry about him going on longer backpack trips, that he would get bogged down once his poor nutrition catches up with him. He might be able to pack enough of his own foods to make it, but his load will be heavy and his nutritional variety will be limited.

 

At home he ends up making his own meals after refusing to eat what is prepared for the family. He is so strong willed about eating that he would go for days without eating if he could not get food that is on his short list. We pretty much gave up on the contest of wills when he started on ADD medication, which makes things worse by suppressing his appetite. From time to time we try to provide incentives for him to try new things, but it almost never works.

 

Believe me, it can be really hard to get a super picky eater to change. We are seriously considering taking him to a specialist in eating disorders.

 

I should add that despite his poor nutrition, he is strong and has good stamina, but I am concerned that if he goes on a week long backpacking trip and discovers that the patrol leader packed a week's worth of Mountain House Stroganoff, he would skip meals long before he would touch it.(This message has been edited by denzero)

[scoutldr]

DenZero, don't take this the wrong way, because I have not walked in your shoes. However...

 

I once saw a Dr.Phil show where the mother was at wits end because all her kid (toddler age) would eat was "orange chicken"...that chinese dish of deep fried chicken nuggets with a sweet orange syrup on them. So they bought him take-out orange chicken every day. Dr. Phil's advice..."DUH - QUIT BUYING ORANGE CHICKEN". When the kid gets hungry enough, he will realize there are other alternatives to being hungry.

 

Trust me...you're not doing the kid any favors.

[Oak Tree]

I worry about him going on longer backpack trips, that he would get bogged down once his poor nutrition catches up with him.

 

I hear this phrase a lot, but depending on how it's interpreted, I personally don't think this is likely to be a problem. Here I'm presuming that the assumption is that white flour and sugar aren't enough to sustain lengthy physical activities. Have you ever seen what triathletes eat? They can do an all day ironman event by eating what amounts to raw sugar all day long. You can get lots of energy from terrible food choices.

 

The poor food choices are likely to cause two separate problems, I think:

1. If there's not enough of food they like, then they don't eat anything (or enough, anyway). Then they don't have enough calories going in.

2. Long-term health is not well-served by eating only sugar and flour (while technically such a person would be a vegetarian, it seems like a better name would by carbohydrarian). But this isn't a problem that would manifest itself in a weekend or even a week. A lifetime of poor eating habits can certainly leave one ill-suited for long-term backpacking.