It is not realistic to expect that your children will eat anything that you give them. For children it is normal to be picky when it comes to eating. Some have an aversion to any new food, and others tend to begin to refuse food which literally adored few months earlier.
Fussiness a way in which they express their independence and often it has nothing to do with the type of food. Therefore, if you force your child to eat something that he/she refuses, you risk to get negative behavior and even greater resistance towards healthy food.
Instead of starting a fight every time in order to get them to eat healthy food, try to trick your child to like it in a calm and serene way.
Get your kids to eat healthy food – Let them prepare their food
Involve your children in the preparation and the purchase of their food. When you’re in the supermarket, let your children choose the vegetables and fruits that they like. This way your child will be more intrigued to test it when it’s served at the table. Also, include your children in the preparation of their food. While you chop the vegetables, allow your child to put the vegetables or fruits from the cutting board into the bowl or give him/her to wash the fruits. Your kitchen is a great place where your children can come into contact with different vegetables and fruits.
Get your kids to eat healthy food – Give them choices
When it comes to healthy food, give your children more choices. Serve couple of small but different dishes for each meal. When your children come into contact with a certain food more often, it’s more likely that they’ll accept it and eat it. At the beginning of the meal place some fresh salad or a plate of vegetables on the table. After a long play or walk when your child is really hungry, he/she will surely fall into the temptation to try the first thing that’s placed on the table.
Get your kids to eat healthy food – Offer them new things
Offer them new things but one food at a time. Rather than to serve them couple of plates of new food, serve your children their favorite meal on the table and place something new next to it. Try not to make a big deal out of the new food. Leave it and don’t say that it’s something new. This way your child will be more interested to try it. Keep in mind that children like to eat things that are familiar and that they know with certainty that it’s tasty, rather trying something new. Therefore, be patient.
Get your kids to eat healthy food – Give them good example
Give your children a good example by eating healthy food yourself. Children learn from their parents. If you avoid eating the vegetables, don’t expect that your child will be enthusiastic when he/she sees them. Everything that you want your child to eat, you should eat it too. While eating remind him/her how delicious it is and tell him/her that healthy food will help him/her grow healthy, beautiful and smart.
Get your kids to eat healthy food – Remove all distractions
Remove anything that distract your child when she/he eats. While you are on the table and ready to eat, turn off the TV, put away all the toys and sit in a relaxed atmosphere when you serve the food. If something is distracting your child, you’ll have more problems to keep his/her interest in the healthy food that you prepared.
Get your kids to eat healthy food – Don’t mention the dessert
When you’re teaching your child to eat healthy food, don’t give a big importance on the dessert. If you say something like ‘If you eat everything on your plate, you can have your dessert’, you would turn the attention to the dessert, making it kind of reward. By doing this you’re indirectly telling your child that the dessert is the tastiest thing of the meal, and your child will love it even more.
Get your kids to eat healthy food – Have healthy snacks on hand
Try to have healthy snacks any time of the day. Children love to nibble throughout the day so be prepared with healthy snacks. Instead of filling their bowls with chips or pretzels, fill it with baby carrots or cherry tomatoes or berries.
Get your kids to eat healthy food – Make food fun
Try to make the healthy food fun. Cut different vegetables in different sizes and shapes and arrange them in a fun way. Buy vegetables in all colors of the rainbow and serve them together in one dish with a healthy dip that your child loves to eat.
Get your kids to eat healthy food – Make food tasty
Try to make the healthy food tastier for our child and don’t worry, if it has little more calories, but don’t overdo it. You don’t have to give your child only steamed vegetables that your child finds boring. Add little bit of butter or splash some tasty sauce onto them. A few calories more won’t harm your child. However, it’s better for your child to eat healthy food this way, rather than not eating it at all.
Get your kids to eat healthy food – Be sneaky
There are countless ways you can ‘sneak’ healthy ingredients into your children’s favorite dish, without them even noticing. For example, add some spinach into lasagna or add mix of vegetables in pasta sauce or some blended broccoli. This way you’ll give your children some healthy food, without having a small war on the table.
Don’t worry too much if your child is picky, because most children aged 2-5 years are picky. Be patient with your child.
