Picky eaters are synonymous with toddlers. Thats what kids do- they give their parents grief at meal times. But there is science behind that and parents can use the science to their advantage.
Here are five things you can do with your children to keep them from becoming picky- or to cure them of their picky-ness:
1) (And this is the MOST important- every parent needs to know this!) A person needs to try a strong flavored food 10-20 times before liking it.
2) Give them a variety of foods from a very young age (or start now if they are older).
3) Have mealtimes together as a family. If you are a busy family (like most families) then do it as often as you can. Once per day, once a week or even once a month.
4) Don’t worry about whether a child eats or not (unless there is something medical which requires a certain diet).
5) Give options during the meal, but once the meal is served, there aren’t other options.
Here are the ideas behind each suggestion.
1) (And this is the MOST important- every parent needs to know this!) A person needs to try a strong flavored food 10-20 times before liking it.
You can offer your child broccoli nine times and they will stick their tongue out but the TENTH time- they might like it. This is where the “just take a small bite” comes into play. If they don’t like it, then don’t force it, just offer it again a month later.
This idea really hit home for me as an adult because growing up I was the pickiest eater. I hated red peppers more than anything. I could tell if a food had red peppers even near it and I threw huge tantrums if a food had red peppers removed from it and then served to me because I could smell the red peppers that were previously there.
Then as an adult, I began serving red peppers to my students as a vegetable tasting lesson. I only did it because I wanted all the colors and tomatoes were messy. After doing this lesson for three years, I took one small bite of a red pepper, and my taste buds said, “Wholey moley! YUM!” They have since become one of my favorite vegetables.
As an extra experiment, choose a food that you absolutely hate and try it once a month and see if it comes around (you can also serve it to your kids and see who comes around faster…).
2) Give them a variety of foods from a very young age (or start now if they are older).
Young children will put anything in their mouths. From the age of around 6 months (when they can bring things up to their mouths) to around one year old (and often longer), children will put anything in their hands into their mouths. This is so they can learn about their world. They can see what things taste like and feel like.
You can use this time to your advantage. You can give them strong flavored foods and they will put it in their mouth and either eat it, or spit it out. But they are building their flavor repertoire which will help with picky-ness.
Even as they get older and maybe don’t even want a particular food on their plate, just having it at the table will make it become more familiar and they will be more likely to like it later.
3) Have mealtimes together as a family. If you are a busy family (like most families) then do it as often as you can. Once per day, once a week or even once a month.
Not only does this help with food issues, it also helps them socially and emotionally. But back to food, a young child will want to do whatever their parents are doing, so if you are eating some steak or a spinach salad, they will want to eat it as well. They will know that the food they are served is good enough for the rest of the family and they are more likely to eat it. It is also so much easier for the parents to make ONE meal and serve it to everyone. There are no other options.
Which brings me to the next two points:
4) Don’t worry about whether a child eats or not (unless there is something medical which requires a certain diet).
If your child is relatively healthy, it is more than OK to skip a meal or a couple of meals. Children who are teething, have a cold, or a just a normal child may not feel like eating 3-4 times per day. It is totally acceptable to go a day (or two) of only having a bite at each meal.
We have trained ourselves as adults to think that a child needs to eat. If we aren’t hungry, we won’t eat most things, but a body (or our tastebuds) rarely turn down something sweet or fatty. So even if we aren’t hungry, we can always find room for a grilled cheese, a cookie, cinnamon toast, etc. If your child is hungry, your child will eat. If your child isn’t hungry, don’t force them to eat. They will be ok. If you want to double check with your pediatrician, I highly recommend that because it is always good to be on the same page.
5) Give options during the meal, but once the meal is served, there aren’t other options.
This goes back to number four. This is the downfall of healthy eating. You make one meal (with at least one item that you know the children will enjoy) and then you serve it. If they want to eat, awesome. If they don’t want to eat, just as well.
There will always be breakfast in the morning.
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