Having a picky eater can be rough, especially during this shelter in place. Here are 5 tips to get your picky eaters experimenting with more foods at home:
Decrease the pressure. Instead of “eat your broccoli,” try talking about the food in kid-friendly ways. “Don’t these look like little green trees? I bet they will make a really loud crunch sound when I bite them. Let’s see!” will get you further.
Involve kids in the cooking and baking. Even little ones can wash, dry, mix, and measure ingredients. Helping in the kitchen is a fun way for kids to see, touch, smell, and taste new foods along the way.
Model good mealtime habits. Regularly sit down and eat with your kids, put away the electronics, and keep mealtime focused on food, family, and fun.
Involve kids in clean up. Even if they didn’t touch their vegetables during the meal, at least they can touch them by putting them in the trash! This strategy works on desensitization for the next time those little green things end up on their plates.
Offer a little bit of everything. Encourage everyone at the dinner table to serve themselves a little bit of each food (that means you get the dinosaur chicken nuggets too!). If that’s too much for your child, give him or her a learning plate that they can put their less-preferred foods on. It’s all about the baby steps!
Remember that a little can go a long way to change mealtime behavior. If you have any questions or concerns, or if you feel like your child could benefit from more strategies, please give us a call at 650-344-9961 or email us at peninfo@talkpeninsula.com.