Wondering how to handle your picky eater kid? Worried parents nowadays have started sending their kids to fancy designed clinics and children’s hospitals for treatments. Do you know that you can help your kids to inculcate a good eating habit in them by reading the below?
Last month your kid might have pushed you away for feeding them and then next when they start to eat by themselves, they push away the plate. Then, they refuse to taste even a bite of the food prepared by you. This is very commonly faced by the parents. After all, they have just started eating different flavors and variety of foods for the first time.
How to Handle Picky Eater at Home:
1. Know how much your kid needs to eat:
Every kid at a different age will have their own diet levels. Know how much your kid needs to eat so that you do not put extra food on the plate thinking they would eat extra but rather only scare them off even before they could start their meal. Give them a bit initially, let them finish. They will ask for more if they like it.
2. It Tastes Yucky:
A general statement from the kids would be that it tastes bad, however as a parent, try to know what your kid enjoys eating for example – a sweet taste, sour or spicy. Add that extra flavor to the food for your kid. Usually, kids love to eat sweeter flavors. If your kid hates broccoli, do not put it off the menu. Rather you can always add extra healthy sweetening agent like honey or Greek yogurt etc. while preparing a dish. You will see it does wonders. If your kid hates salads, for example, then you give them a tasty dip to see them devour all of it.
3. One favorite thing on Their Plate:
When you know your kid hates carrot but loves corn, make sure to have that one thing in the plate made of corn. So that you could prepare all that you want your kid to eat but also have that one thing which your kid loves to eat so that the kid is interested in finishing the meal. The more the variety they are exposed to, the more they start enjoying and letting you know their preferences.
4. The Kid isn’t Hungry:
Kids around the age of 2 slow down on their growth. Keep serving different forms of food. Make a puree and convert it into a soup or make a salad form. Try mixing new item each time. Research shows that kids need to have had the food on their plate 10 times before accepting it thoroughly and ask for more. A sauce of their liking can add up that one bit of success. As a fact, kids eat raw veggies too if paired with their favorite dip.
5. Encourage Healthy Eating:
As a parent, it could be disturbing that your kid is not eating well. If you succumb to this and feed them their favorite junk, there goes away the healthy eating habit. Offer options to the picky eater. It will be an added effort for some time. However, you will see them eating the food that looks better in comparison to the other food served to them. For example, if you prepare pasta, set out the noodles, sauce, meat, and salad for them. Your child just eats the noodles with sauce, it should be okay.
6. Cut Down Distractions:
Kids can demand some sort of distraction for eating. Or in many cases, they prefer being distracted by playing rather than eating. Power off the TVs and phones during mealtime. Teach them to focus on their meal and as a parent, you must practice the same in front of them to learn the right things.
7. Ask Your Kid What They Want to Eat:
Your child is growing and wants to be independent soon. If they start picking up their own dress colors and shoes to wear, let them as well pick what they want to eat. Ask them what they would like to eat for the meal and prepare it with love once a while.
8. Avoid Fillers:
Kids sometimes just want to eat in between the meal hours. Snacking is absolutely alright but not just before the dinner or lunch. Even if you want to give them something to eat, try to offer some fruits instead. This does not fill their stomach enough and they will still be ready to have their meal in a while.
9. Share your Kitchen with Kids:
Let your kid as well see how much efforts you put to cook and if they are interested to offer you help, what better can you ask for. Involve them while you are cooking or planning the menu. Take them along to the grocery store so that they can pick their own fruits and salad.
10. Fancy up the Food:
A lot many times this is the best thing that parents resort to. Make some fancy looking food like you can offer them the same sandwich but imagine having drawn an owl face or a teddy on the bread with sauce? Make a barbecue skew with fruits instead. There are brilliant such ideas to make your kid devour the tasty looking food. Read more on making fancy snacks for kids.
