Lynda Loveland: How can you not like it?

My seven-year-old daughter Campbell will eat just about anything. She absolutely loves fish. She pounds it. Not the battered stuff, but the baked kind. She even likes sardines and smoked oysters!!! She could live on fish, a loaded baked potato and a salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

But for some reason, she doesn’t like red pasta sauce. As in spaghetti and meatballs. What kid doesn’t like spaghetti? It’s the most basic kid food around next to mac and cheese! It’s also one of the quickest and easiest meals to whip up.

I made a cheesy spinach pasta casserole thing last night with red sauce and she asked me, “Why do you keep making this when you know I don’t like it?”

I told her I don’t cater to one person. The other kids liked it just fine. I ended up making her eat ¾ of it anyway. (Good thing she didn’t make out the mushrooms I finely chopped in the mixture.) I make one meal for everyone.

But I kinda feel badly about Campbell. First of all, she’s very much on the skinny side, so I really need her to eat. And secondly, she’s normally a good, healthy eater. Should I make her something else? As I write this, I think, heck no! That will only lead to an uprising from the other two. But … she does make good choices normally. I really don’t want to stop making pasta with red sauce dishes. I don’t make them too often, but I do like the option.

Do you have a child who won’t eat one of the “basics?"