Top Tips for Coping with Fussy Eaters
Not liking sprouts is a given for most kids, but fussy eating can be an issue. It may be a challenge not to give in, but how do you encourage them to try new tastes. Break the fussy fad with these tips.
2 minute read
Vegetables
Perhaps the greatest challenge, trying to get children to eat vegetables, is never going to be fool-proof. Disguise your vegetables by cutting them up finely into a sauce as this way you add vitamins and minerals by stealth.
Ingredients
While cooking, add a couple of items that you know your kids are going to like, and then incorporate something new into it. You don’t want to overwhelm them with all new healthy food at once, so this way you can slowly add to the list of foods familiar to them.
Cook together
Let your kid’s help you cook. It might take you a little bit longer, but letting your child do small tasks, like cutting up a courgette or banana with a butter knife, encourages them to sample the fruits of their labours. If they’ve been part of the cooking process, they’ll be curious to eat the results.
One bite
It can take children 8-10 times of tasting to accept a particular food, so encourage them to always take at least one bite of everything on their plate. The more they have just one bite, the more the food will become familiar, and likely to be viewed favourably.
One meal for all
As soon as children are on to solid foods, there is no reason why they should eat different meals to the adults, provided your tastes don’t run too much to the extreme. Cook one meal only, telling your child that they don’t have to eat it, but there isn’t anything else. Skipping a single meal won’t do any harm and they’ll soon realise that they’d rather eat the food you’ve provided than go hungry.
Tactics
‘No pudding if you don’t eat your greens’ – is a strategy which has been tried and tested. Another is to enquire if your fussy-eater is going to eat something, if not you’ll give it to their sibling. Suddenly, they’re extremely interested in their dinner again.
Positivity
Forcing a child to finish their whole meal, can have a detrimental effect in that children start to associate that particular food with negativity. Instead, encourage one more bite and always reward this with praise.
Persistence
Be aware that solving the problem of a fussy-eater is not going to be a quick fix. Be patient with the little ones and just keep telling yourself that the effort will be worthwhile when they’re adventurous, healthy eaters.
