<r>My four-year-old has a lot of stubborn issues with food. For some reason, eating is a chore to him, and he is extremely picky about what he will or will not eat. He is very against trying new foods, never finishes his plate, and doesn’t seem to understand the concept of getting a full belly. Certain textures gross him out, and his food has to be a certain temperature. Many tastes and smells just immediately turn him off. He is a very picky eater, and always has been ever since he was an infant. He has been refusing food from the time I started offering it to him, unless of course it was something sweet or salty, or otherwise not so good for him. Due to this, I have picked up a lot of experience on how to deal with a picky eater.<br/>
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Make food fun, and hide nutrition. Take otherwise boring and nutritious food and cut it into fun shapes, form it into a smiley face on the plate, or make it look in general more interesting (for instance, ants on a log). Sometimes you don’t even have to do anything special to the food, if you just call it by a fancy name. Super Hero Spaghetti and Monster Meatballs; Crazy Cool Chicken and Alien Green Beans (yes, I do have a lot of spare time). I have found that sometimes I can just make the food <I><s><I></s>sound<e></I></e></I> cool, and I can totally trick him into thinking that it <I><s><I></s>is <e></I></e></I>cool. You would be amazed at what kind of fruits and veggies you can hide inside of practically any food. You can hide cauliflower, zucchini, and sweet potatoes in macaroni and cheese. You can hide spinach, broccoli, and peas inside of lasagna. You can even hide blueberries and spinach inside of brownies. It’s amazing! Not to mention a win/win situation. <br/>
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<IMG src="http://terrificparenting.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/fussy_eater_kid.jpg"><s>
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Let them help you make the food, and give them a set amount of required bites. I have found that when I let my son help me cook the meal as much as possible, that he is much more interested in eating it when it’s done. When he has a real hand in making it, and gets himself all worked up and excited about it, the food suddenly becomes something that he is proud of and has much more of a serious interest in. He likes to talk about how he made it, and how he did such a good job, and how it is going to be so yummy. I also give him a number of bites to eat before he finishes. He will ask if he can be done (after eating pretty much nothing) and I will tell him to eat three more bites. Or if there are a few things on his plate, I will tell him to eat a certain number of bites of each thing. This way, he doesn’t feel overwhelmed about the thought of “finishing his plate” or the unknown of how much he might have to eat before I will approve. <br/>
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One important thing to remember is to not make a big deal out of it. Please don’t get upset or stressed out, and don’t let your child come to relate mealtime with anxiety and frustration. This can only make the problem worse, and make things harder on you than they have to be. Remember that it is not so important what your kids eat in one day. Try to look at what they have eaten in a week instead, because it can really help put things in a better perspective. If your child has gotten a reasonable amount of variety and nutrition in the past week, then they are probably doing okay. There’s no need to make mealtime into a battle, crying and punishments will only exacerbate the problem. Eventually they will grow out of it, and until then just be understanding and know that it is very common and very normal.</r>
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Make food fun, and hide nutrition. Take otherwise boring and nutritious food and cut it into fun shapes, form it into a smiley face on the plate, or make it look in general more interesting (for instance, ants on a log). Sometimes you don’t even have to do anything special to the food, if you just call it by a fancy name. Super Hero Spaghetti and Monster Meatballs; Crazy Cool Chicken and Alien Green Beans (yes, I do have a lot of spare time). I have found that sometimes I can just make the food <I><s><I></s>sound<e></I></e></I> cool, and I can totally trick him into thinking that it <I><s><I></s>is <e></I></e></I>cool. You would be amazed at what kind of fruits and veggies you can hide inside of practically any food. You can hide cauliflower, zucchini, and sweet potatoes in macaroni and cheese. You can hide spinach, broccoli, and peas inside of lasagna. You can even hide blueberries and spinach inside of brownies. It’s amazing! Not to mention a win/win situation. <br/>
<br/>
<IMG src="http://terrificparenting.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/fussy_eater_kid.jpg"><s>
<br/>
Let them help you make the food, and give them a set amount of required bites. I have found that when I let my son help me cook the meal as much as possible, that he is much more interested in eating it when it’s done. When he has a real hand in making it, and gets himself all worked up and excited about it, the food suddenly becomes something that he is proud of and has much more of a serious interest in. He likes to talk about how he made it, and how he did such a good job, and how it is going to be so yummy. I also give him a number of bites to eat before he finishes. He will ask if he can be done (after eating pretty much nothing) and I will tell him to eat three more bites. Or if there are a few things on his plate, I will tell him to eat a certain number of bites of each thing. This way, he doesn’t feel overwhelmed about the thought of “finishing his plate” or the unknown of how much he might have to eat before I will approve. <br/>
<br/>
One important thing to remember is to not make a big deal out of it. Please don’t get upset or stressed out, and don’t let your child come to relate mealtime with anxiety and frustration. This can only make the problem worse, and make things harder on you than they have to be. Remember that it is not so important what your kids eat in one day. Try to look at what they have eaten in a week instead, because it can really help put things in a better perspective. If your child has gotten a reasonable amount of variety and nutrition in the past week, then they are probably doing okay. There’s no need to make mealtime into a battle, crying and punishments will only exacerbate the problem. Eventually they will grow out of it, and until then just be understanding and know that it is very common and very normal.</r>
They had the right idea. I grew up in a big foster family myself, and my mom was also very strict about mealtimes. We always had to eat a reasonable amount, but we were also not allowed to pig out. If we didn't like what was cooked, we had usually a couple of alternatives. We could have leftovers from the night before, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or some other similar alternative. The ones my mom used are slipping my mind at the moment, but looking back I feel it was fair. It was also very important that you stay at the table until you were done, and that you asked to be excused before getting up.
