Do you have picky eaters in your family? My kids go back and forth. Sometimes they'll eat everything, and two days later they'll want nothing to do with those same foods. We've also had some push-back now that our daughter is almost four. She'd love to skip her meal and go straight to dessert. Over the past few months we've come up with some ways to combat picky eating, and I wanted to share our ideas with you!
How to Get Picky Eaters to Eat
Get them involved. Most kids love to be a part of the cooking process. I was hesitant about letting our daughter help in the kitchen, mostly because it meant more work for me. However, I soon learned that she takes a lot of pride in helping me cook. In turn, she enjoys eating the meal that she prepared. On top of that, she's gaining valuable skills by assisting me in the kitchen. To make our kitchen time easier, we use a Little Partners Learning Tower so our daughter can reach the counter and feel confident at that height! We also have invested in a few kid-friendly kitchen items to make our prep more fun-these are some of our favorites!
Grow your food. Last year I started our first garden since having kids. We didn't grow a lot-just a few tomato varieties, green peppers, and some herbs. Even though it wasn't much, our daughter loved to eat foods with the ingredients she helped grow. This year she'll be even more involved with the garden. She will help me plant our produce, harvest and wash it, and cook it into our meals.
Be consistent. I used to be a toddler teacher at a daycare, and our nutrition coordinator always said that your palate won't get used to a new flavor until you've tried something seven times. This really stuck with me as we started giving each of our kids food. Even though my daughter didn't seem to like any greens at first, we kept offering them. Now, at almost four, she loves all greens-particularly spinach. Just because your kids don't like something the first few times you make it doesn't mean it should be banned from your meals altogether. Keep offering those foods and your kids may come around!
Try shapes or rainbows. This may sound weird, but it really works. If I want my kids to eat something I'll cut it into a fun shape and they can't resist! One day I made tomato, basil, mozzarella grilled cheese with pesto. Our daughter wasn't having it, until I cut hers into a heart shape. Then, she couldn't eat it fast enough! Along with that trick, we also like to make rainbows with food. If I want her to get a good portion of fruits and veggies in, I'll make a rainbow with them (grab a strawberry, carrot, green bean, grape, sliced banana...or a few of each!) and she loves it.
Set a good example. This can be a tough one, but it's also so important. If you want your kids to eat a variety of foods, you have to show them that those foods are good. I struggle with eating fruit. I'm great about serving it on my kids' plates, but not so great about eating it myself. I've made an effort over the past few months to incorporate foods I usually avoid into my meals. When my kids see me eating different foods, they're more likely to try them also.
Make it a game. Sometimes it's necessary to make even bigger changes, especially for particularly picky eaters. When we were going through a really tough phase with our daughter, we tried the Dinner Winner Kid's Tray from Fred & Friends.
Dinner Winner Kid's Tray
The concept is simple-you put food in each section and they travel around the board eating until they reach the 'finish' portion. Then lift up the cover to see the treat they've earned underneath!
Our daughter thinks this plate is the greatest thing ever. She just loves finishing each portion of the plate and getting closer to the end.
When we're introducing a new food I always use this plate because I know it will get her to at least try the meal. It's also a fun way to teach about the food pyramid and give kids a lot of variety in their meals. It helps me make sure they're getting fruits and veggies at every meal, along with a balanced diet.
Each section has an encouraging phrase written inside, like "Nom Nom" or "Good Job!". While our daughter isn't old enough to read yet, she loves asking us what each section says as she empties it.
Our daughter knows that she's not supposed to peek under the finish cover until she eats all of her food. She really anticipates opening that little box! We don't do dessert at every meal so I like to get creative with it. Sometimes it's a piece of cheese cut into a heart shape or just a mini marshmallow. Honestly the surprise is half the fun, and she gets excited no matter what's in that spot!
This plate is so much fun, and I love the different varieties they have available. When our son gets a little older we'll be getting one for him, too!
Here are some of my favorites:
Do you have picky eaters?
What are your best tricks and tips to get them to eat?
Amber Ludwig says
Oh I just love all of these!! I love the idea of making it a game because it makes it fun and seriously bribery almost always works lol!!
Ann Morrison says
Thanks for the tips, it's very interesting! My daughter did not want to eat at all and I also had to come up with different games with food to feed her :). Now everything is ok already.