Hello all! My name is Jenny and I'm new here (also very new at growing figs). I have a one year old son and want to grow varieties that he and my future children will love.

I would love to hear about other member's experiences growing figs with/for their kids and what special fig tree(s) the kids look forward to every year. Thank you!

My girls loved the Sari Zybek we used to eat in Central Asia. It is very sweet yellow fig with a think skin, there are several similar varieties here in the US.

Welcome!  I think most kids will love any ripe fig.

Welcome Jenny. I too am an RN and am essentially growing all my fruits and veggies for my kid too. I built a shade/greenhouse with a sandbox in it!

Welcome Jenny.
  

Welcome Jenny.
you might want to start from something like this  

LOL!!!
sorry i could not stop my self...
i think you should start with any fig that is very ripe.
the most important thing to do is to take off the skin and if it has a thick white part remove most of that as well.
they will start eating it with the skin when they get older

No fruit from my fig plants yet here, but my five year old was helping me look after cuttings rooting in perlite yesterday, he found one buried that had some nice roots on it.  I saw that it was labeled with 'HC' by the donor, and asked my son if he knew what kind of fig it was(always testing the little guy)- right off he said, "Hardy Chicago"-we got a fig prodigy coming up here, folks!

I'm still trying to get my 3 y.o. to eat a fig. He'll put it in his mouth, but doesn't actually bite all the way into it. I'm sure he'll love them once I can convince him that it's OK to eat a fruit with skin still on it.

Hi Jenny and welcome to the forum! Can you update your profile or tell us where you live? This forum has folks from all over the world. And it would best if we knew your location. Without knowing your location, I'd recommend a common fig like Hardy Chicago or Marseilles Black. Both are super hardy and produce excellent sweet tasting figs that are hard to beat.

You can even grow them in half whiskey barrels. I have many in these barrels growing fine.

Here's a tip I use with my little ones, tell them you have a club called, The Try It You Like It club, and everybody has to try one food at least once in order to be in the club. My little ones help me pick my figs and we eat them right off the tree. And, they love fresh figs!

My 1 year old had an LdA, she loved it. I wanted some for myself...didn't happen.

Celeste - small and sweet, perfect for kids.

I have 3 kids.  Two of them don't like them at all, but one is a true fig lover at heart.  My wife is also not a fig lover...she only just tasted on last week that she admitted was pretty good (...one that my daughter and I thought was amazing!!)  So, you never can tell.
Jim

My 8 year old daughter will eat any ripe fruit, and anything weird it seems.  I think the sweeter it is, the more she likes it.  Almost never turns one down, unless it's soured. 

My 6 year old son will not eat a rip fresh fig, but will eat dried ones. 

Just depends on their individual tastes.  I think that any kid that likes one fig will like them all, and if they don't like one, they won't like any. 

To encourage them to like them, I would make sure that the first one you give the kid is very very sweet.  Cut it in half and make sure it's a good one before you offer it to him/her.  Otherwise you risk spoiling their first impression with a mediocre fig. 

My two year old and 4 year old both don't like figs ... Yet. Go figure. They have to compete with the Everbearing strawberries which they like better. I'm sure they will come around.

I like the idea of peeling them. I'll have to try that.

@ ADelmato 90% of the people in greece do not eat the skin... not just the kids

I have two boys.  One of them likes figs that have a little more subtlety and aren't too "in your face" with sweetness.  He likes Conadria and Frank's Fig Unknown (probably a close relative of English Brown Turkey).  The other one loves any fig that is ripe.  :-)

Mike   central NY state, zone 5a

P.S.  Welcome to the forum.

My daughter absolutely HATES figs!  And for that, I am profoundly grateful, as I have 27 other varieties of fruit trees in my yard and she CLEANS THEM OUT like some form of biblical plague. At least I get to enjoy the fruits of my (fig) labor, pun intended.

I bought my wife and child a copy of the story:  "The Little Red Hen".  They missed the point.

I put up a garden sign quoting Captain John Smith of Jamestown fame:  "He Who Shall Not Work, Shall Not Eat".  That sign is routinely ignored.

Its a good thing I love them both so very much....

Welcome Jenny! My boys are older now and at the ages of 27 and 22 could not care less about figs(sad to say). My baby girl is 14 and still loves to do things with her dad, including gardening and figging of course. Her favorite is Celest ,small and honey sweet ,she devoures them right off the tree. Best of luck with everything!

I find children new to figs will be shy to try them if you give them a whole fig since they don't look like anything else they eat.

But if I given them 1/2 of a ripe fig that I am eating then they would eat it and love it and keep eating 1/2 of mine as long as I keep eating them.  It is rather enjoyable showing them this way.

My kids and grandkids love any kind of figs, ripe and picked from the tree.

Jenny,
Welcome to THE forum where it all happens :)

Kids love honey figs, I say this from my experience with my 2 kids.
As they grow up, my girl at 5 and boy 3, my boy started to develop taste for acidic foods, he eats Sorel on daily bases from the garden and dark figs with acidic, berry-ish, tastes(when available) but my girl remains faithful to Honey Figs.
I wonder if it's a gender thang? ;P