Is your child a picky eater? Now is the time to curb those finicky eating habits and expand your child’s palate before fussy eating becomes a habit.
Here are a few tips for parents:
Cut back on snacks in between meals, so your child has an appetite during family meals.
Stick to routine meals.
Let your child help plan and prepare the meal with new food items.
Incorporate new ingredients into familiar foods. (Check out the popular book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld)
Repeat exposure! Just like ad campaigns and marketing schemes, keep offering new foods to your child.
Be okay with waste, your child may not try a new food the first time it’s offered.
Key down the distractions during mealtime. Let your child get to know the new food without the distraction of TV or other activities. Meaningful family meals have an “electronic free” zone.
Make sure everyone is eating the same thing! NO EXCEPTIONS!
And if none of this works…try what this mother did and offer the big sister’s food to her younger siblings! Reverse-psychology!