“Kids, it’s dinner time!” As you call over to the kids, you sit and wonder “Are they going to eat what I cooked tonight?” Or maybe you don’t wonder at all. Maybe you know they won’t because it’s not macaroni and cheese. Or if you’re like me, 2 of the 3 will like it and the 3rd will complain for sure. There are only a handful of meals I can make that everyone likes. And every once in a while, even that meal gets shot down by someone.
So how do we deal with picky eating? I love the article below. It explains why kids may be picky eaters and how you can help.
There are many strategies from this article I have been using for a while (both personally and professionally). However, two new feeding strategies that I can’t wait to implement (both personally and professionally) are:
- serving food family style and
- serving muti-course meals
By serving food family style, your child gets to choose how much goes on their plate (taking some of the anxiety away) and is encouraged to interact with the food in a non-threatening (it doesn’t have to go in my mouth) kind of way. Those are two key principles to successful feeding therapy.
By serving multi-course meals, you can take a food that your child has slowly been exploring and is ready to try eating, and present it as the “appetizer.” During a “first course” is when people are the hungriest and more likely to try a new food. In a best-case-scenario, your child tries the food and moves on to the “main course” of preferred foods. In the worst-case-scenario, your child kisses, licks, or bites and spits out the new food and moves on to the “main course” of preferred foods. In either instance, both is a win. This has given your child a non-threatening way to interact with food positively and one-step closer to liking a new food!
Such a great article. For additional tips and tricks, check out the article linked above.
