How to Handle Picky Little Eaters

How to Handle Picky Little Eaters

As parents, we only want what’s best for our kids. It’s only natural for us to want our children to grow up as healthy and as happy as can be. Something you may not know is most families struggle with feeding time at the dinner table. So don’t worry, you’re not the only family with this problem.  Majority of children is what we call “picky eaters” and they are highly sensitive to what they decide to put in their mouths. This makes eating healthy a bit more challenging. This blog post is to provide some useful tips and tricks for getting your children to eat their full healthy plate of dinner.

                Be patient with new foods. Children often touch, smell and might even taste tiny bits of unfamiliar food before finding enjoyment from it.. It’s common for children to refuse foods because they don’t know what it is. If your child refuse to eat something, it does not mean they won’t ever enjoy it, it might just take some time for them to get use to. It might take kids 8-10 encounters with a food item until they start eating it with enjoyment. Try to avoid forcing your kids to eat something they doesn’t want to. Simply just ask to try one bit, and move on from it. Hopefully, becoming more familiar with foods will provoke them to eating more of those unfamiliar healthy foods. 

                Make it fun. As parents, we all know it's difficult to get our kids to eat those healthy veggies. Next time, try cutting the veggies into unique shapes or patterns. Serve a variety of different colored vegetables will make the plate look more satisfying and fun! If you find your kids using broccoli as race cars… that’s a good thing! Having a good relationship with veggie can spark an interest. And that little spark might give them temptation to eating that delicious broccoli.

                Set a good example. If you don’t already know it yet, you are your children’s biggest role model. They are super observant and witness your every action and decision. Therefore, if you want your kids to eat those veggies, you have to be their role model and educated them on the importance of consuming veggies.

                Be creative. Sometimes it’s not just the taste, but also the texture. Try experimenting with different recipes to incorporate those veggies into meals they love. I remember growing up my mother would always add peas to my mac and cheese bowl. I really didn’t mind it as long as I was able to eat my Craft Mac and Cheese. Little did I know my mom was just trying to get me to eat more veggies. Another example would be cauliflower crust pizza. Every kid loves pizza, and I can assure you they won’t even know the crust is made of cauliflower. Here’s an excellent recipe

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/katie-lee/cauliflower-pizza-crust-2651381

                Try your best to not get frustrated when little jimmy refuses to eat his green beans. Take a breath, it’s okay. Having your kids stray away from the picky eaters club will take some time and effort. Incorporating these 4 tricks might just make that time a whole lot shorter.

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