Is your child currently a picky eater? If so, then you likely know just how much of a real nightmare it can be to deal with, encountering countless tantrums, arguments and even rumbling tummies when your little one simply won’t touch what’s on their plate. Picky eating can also have a number of health implications too, as regularly losing out on key vitamins and nutrients due to food limitations in the most important formative life stages can have long term impacts on your child’s well-being.
Thankfully, learning how to prevent picky eating doesn’t have to be as difficult as you might initially expect, as this guide contains some of the most effective steps that you can follow today. So, read on to discover more!
Make Healthy Food More Attractive
One of the most effective steps that you can follow to help reduce or prevent picky eating is to make healthy food more attractive. It’s far too common for children to turn their noses up at things like fruit and vegetables, but in reality these are some of the most attractive foods around when presented in the right way. Fruits and vegetables are bright colored and often boast amazing structures and patterns (take the inside of a strawberry, for example).
You can use these enticing characteristics as a way to make your children more motivated to eat fruits and vegetables, as you can explore so many options that they will enjoy wholeheartedly. First off you can do a themed fruit salad with different fruits that are their favorite color – for example, if they love the color green, you can have grapes, apples, kiwi, gooseberries, pears and even avocado. Another idea that you can explore requires a little more artistic flare, as you can create things using fruit and vegetables.
Whether this means using cutters to create shapes or even simply arranging them in a specific way, your kids will love getting their favorite cartoon character or even their name spelled out in their mid-afternoon snack!
Lead By Example
More often than not, children will pick up on the eating habits of their parents and mimic any picky eating behaviors that you may have yourself. It’s vital that you can recognize this and subsequently lead by example, as you can lay the best foundations by showing them that eating new foods is a fun and exciting experience!
If they’re wary about trying a food, then take a big bite yourself to show them that everything is totally fine. They don’t need to have any fears surrounding food, and parents are the only people that can offer a sustained calming environment during dinner times that proves food doesn’t have to be scary! Don’t make things into a show – just lead the way, facing your own picky eating habits so that they can learn from you.
It may be a good idea to set a day of the week where you all take the opportunity to try a new food as a family, as this way it can become more of a regular thing that is normalized over time.
Recognize When Expert Help Is Required
It has to be said that some picky eating habits are far more deep rooted than a parent can handle on their own, so you need to be able to recognize the need for expert help in supporting your child to overcome their food fears. Finding something like MetroEHS Pediatric Therapy can be of real benefit, as feeding therapy is a professional service that exists to help picky eaters to work through their food issues with the greatest success. Having an expert on hand can make the process more manageable, as their experience and expertise can combine to get to the bottom of your son or daughter’s picky eating habits. Finding the root cause will allow for the most effective resolution, so it’s a step that needs to be taken if you want your child to be able to maintain good health both now and in the future.
Preventing picky eating has never been such a simple task when you can take the opportunity to utilize some of the effective tips and ideas that have been carefully detailed in this informative guide. It’s not always easy to handle picky eating and you have to stick to your guns, but it’s certainly worth it for the sake of your children’s long term well-being. Get started today using the information described above to point your little ones in the right direction.
What are your thoughts about How to Start Spending Less on Restaurants and Takeout Food Please share in the comments below. I really would love to know.
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My one daughter has always been picky. It’s easy to say you won’t tolerate pickiness, but my older child is not picky, so a lot has to do with them and not parenting.
My kids were always picky to a degree. I didn’t really put too much pressure on the kids after I had them try one bites of peas and they made my daughter gag. Kids naturally eat when they are hungry, even if they don’t choose the healthy stuff. But keep introducing those new foods and try adding smoothies with fruits and veggies. Even if you have a picky eater now, chances are they won’t be so picky when they are older.
There are some really good tips and sound advice here for sure. Leading by example is a good one and a must x
Some great tips here and I do agree that we need to lead by example. If only fruits are available during snacks then kids will learn to eat the instead of biscuits and crisps