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‘Son hates bagels but loves bread donuts’: 20 moms share the wildest food rebrands that get their kids to eat anything

‘My kids wouldn’t eat the crust on pizza until I told them it was a free bread stick.’

Photo of Anna Good

Anna Good

2 panel image: on the left a person explains, text over: and that is motherhood. On the right is a comment from a TikTok user.

A TikTok storytime posted by @cobreezzy has gone viral with parents sharing how they trick their kids into eating things that might otherwise cause a tantrum.

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In his video, @cobreezzy explains that a mom at a coffee shop with her twin boys handled a muffin shortage like a pro. When her kids begged for a muffin, the cafe unfortunately only had croissants and cookies. She smoothly ordered one of each and confidently told them, “All right, guys, let’s go eat our muffin.” The kids, none the wiser, happily accepted it. Moral of the story? Sometimes, a little creative parenting (aka harmless lying) keeps things simple and gives kids a fun new treat without complaint.

The TikTok video has been viewed over 6.8 million times and has sparked a flood of comments, nearly 10K of them, from parents sharing what they called foods to get their kids to eat them.

@cobreezzy #motherhood ♬ original sound – Conor O’Brien
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Here are 20 food ‘tricks’ parents use to rebrand foods in ways their picky kids will eat them:

1. Rebranding mayonnaise as white ketchup

Mom lie that reads, 'My daughter really disliked mayonnaise but she quite enjoyed white ketchup'
@natthebrat37/TikTok

2. It isn’t cauliflower, Elsa just froze the broccoli!

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Mom lie that reads, 'Yep my daughter hates cauliflower but loves broccoli that Elsa froze (cry laugh emoji)'
@natthebrat37/TikTok

3. What is dinner, if not just a really big snack?

Mom lie that reads, '‘I don’t want dinner’… “Want a big snack?” ‘Yes please’'
@aletheaabela/TikTok

4. Kids will claim they hate something when it’s just a word…like tomato.

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Mom lie that reads, 'My kids hate tomato soup. But do you know what they LOVE? Pizza soup! (shrug emoji)'
@aletheaabela/TikTok

5. According to this child, everything is chicken!

Mom lie that reads, 'Yup. My kid only eats chicken: beef chicken, pork chicken, salmon chicken, spam chicken, sausage chicken. Salmon chicken is her favourite.'
@samjam858/TikTok

6. It’s the little (rice) things.

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Mom lie that reads, 'Quinoa? Oh no baby, that’s ✨little rice✨'
@samjam858/TikTok

7. Donuts and bagels are practically the same shape already, which certainly makes this trick easier.

Mom lie that reads, 'my son refuses to eat bagels but he loves bread donuts...'
@sunshine_and_shit/TikTok

8. If you can’t beat them, join them, and making everything Minecraft sounds like a great way to get your kid to eat something they don’t “want” to.

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Mom lie that reads, 'Yea I’m a mom and my son doesn’t like avocados but he loves a good sandwich with Minecraft green butter. Thats life'
@sunshine_and_shit/TikTok

9. In this case, a mother’s white lie was to avoid giving her kid something they wanted, rather than giving them something they should eat.

Mom lie that reads, 'Oooo... honey, I'm so sorry!! The reason the ice cream man rings his bell is because he's all out of ice cream... 2 summers ago I heard my son tell HIS son the same lie. Circle of life '
@noxqqivit/TikTok

10. Essentially, the comments of this TikTok are showing that you just need to rebrand foods to something similar that kids already like.

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Mom lie that reads, 'My son HATES quesadillas. But he LOVES cheesy chicken pancakes. (cry laugh emojis)'
@noxqqivit/TikTok

11. Another mother said that her kid was all about the “little trees” she cooked.

Mom lie that reads, 'My daughter hated broccoli but loved ‘little trees’'
@helentaylor46/TikTok

12. One person shared that their mother made a mysterious “dinosaur steak” for their brother, but did not specify what that was.

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Mom lie that reads, 'My brother wouldnt eat meat when he was a kid, but he loved *dinosaur steak*'
@helentaylor46/TikTok

13. Substituting one meat name for another seems to be a common refrain amongst commenters.

Mom lie that reads, 'My kid wouldn’t eat beef but would definitely eat brown chicken.'
@courtneylynn418/TikTok

14. Why try something new when you can have “layered pizza” instead?

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Mom lie that reads, 'Lasagna is now layered pizza, works every time'
@courtneylynn418/TikTok

15. Another parent managed to convince their kids that calamari, of all things, was onion rings.

Mom lie that reads, 'I had my kids think calamari was Italian onion rings (cry laugh emojis)'
@mombod05/TikTok

16. This trick also works well for medicine.

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Mom lie that reads, 'My son thinks orange flavoured paracetamol is Fanta'
@mombod05/TikTok

17. This person gave ideas for how to describe these newfound muffins from the original storytime video.

Mom lie that reads, 'A 'flat muffin' and a 'moon-shaped muffin''
@lifewithswells/TikTok

18. Pizza crusts? No, they are free breadsticks!

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Mom lie that reads, 'My kids wouldn't eat the crust on pizza until I told them it was a free bread stick. My finest moment.'
@lifewithswells/TikTok

19. Ice cream and yogurt are at least in a similar category of food…almost.

Mom lie that reads, 'My daughter loves 'ice cream'... it's vanilla Greek yogurt (laugh emoji)'
@mamajoy2772/TikTok

20. And finally, as one mom put it: It’s chicken. It’s always chicken.

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Mom lie that reads, 'Sometimes when my kid is being really picky. It’s chicken, it’s always chicken'
@mamajoy2772/TikTok

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