A Helpful Guide to Managing Picky Eaters
It’s a classic battle of wills between you and your three-year-old. You just spent two hours making Sheppard’s pie, and it’ll be a cold day in the Bahamas before you let it go to waste!
Unfortunately, your offspring is a determined sort, and if something doesn’t give, neither of you is going to bed tonight.
You aren’t alone in your struggle. Parents everywhere are unsuccessful at convincing their preschoolers there are more food groups than pizza, French fries, or chicken strips.
How are parents of preschoolers supposed to nip discriminating culinary tastes in the bud?
Why is Your Young Child so Picky?
Your child’s picky eating habits could be the result of a number of causes.
Some preschoolers object to the colour, shape, or texture of new foods, while others experience what’s known as the “food jags”, where they only eat the same few foods every meal.
Food jags are caused by a fear of new things, and children usually grow out of it by five years old — but it could extend into their adult life if left unmanaged.
Your young one’s act of defiance could also be a way of expressing their independence, testing the limits of your authority.
And in many cases, preschoolers have a hard time sitting down for long periods, incapable of focusing on an entire meal.
Make Meal Time a Soothing Experience
It’s essential that meal time is a comforting experience for the energetic fireball in your family. If your in-home dining experience is chaotic, it’ll be harder for your preschooler to focus, and they won’t consume the nutrients they need to be strong and healthy.
By maintaining your cool, your child will follow suit, and have an easier time paying attention to the task at hand: downing your delicious meal. You can also play relaxing music, or employ a white noise machine to establish a sense of calm.
If you’re stressed out or feeling frantic, don’t let it show, because those vibes will set your child into a state of distracted unease, leaving their food untouched.
Variety is the Spice of Life
Preparing a few options for each meal will appease your child’s longing for independence. They can choose what they find most appetizing, and won’t be intimidated by a brand-new food being slapped down on a plate without their input.
Once again, it’s best to play it cool when introducing a new food—just place it on the table with everything else, business as usual.
Your ongoing patience is essential, as you’ll likely need to serve the new food several times before your child even thinks about plating it.
Variety Can be a Little Too Spicy
Don’t make dinner choices open-ended. Asking “what do you want for dinner tonight?” will only lead to suggestions of ice cream and Pop Tarts.
Simply announce “here’s dinner” and they can decide which option they prefer.
Serve at least one familiar food, or else your child will be intimidated, and won’t eat anything.
Involve Your Child in the Culinary Experience
When your child takes part in food preparation, they become invested in the meal, and are much more likely to eat and enjoy it.
From taking your young one grocery shopping, to making healthy, yummy snacks together, their horizons will expand drastically when they’re involved in the culinary process.
No More Gimmicks
Ditch the star shaped grilled cheese and smiley pancakes. Once they’re in preschool, your young one is old enough to eat without custom designs on their food.
Unabashed doting caters to your child’s pickiness. You need to make it clear that they aren’t the only person who matters, or else you’ll be cutting the crusts from PB&Js well into your child’s forties.
Learn to Negotiate
Sometimes your child simply won’t eat, but it’s not the end of the world.
While some preschoolers feign a lack of appetite to dodge their dinner-eating obligations, it’s easy to call their bluff. Don’t force them into eating anything. Let them know that when their appetite returns, they can finish their dinner…not eat dessert.
They’ll inevitably resort to kid tactics like playing games of “Hide Daddy’s Wallet” that’ll burn the energy to make your preschooler hungry enough to finish their meal!
Organizing meals for a picky preschooler will take up a lot of time, particularly when working a demanding full-time job. And if you barely have time to plan and cook meals? Then you definitely won’t have the time to accurately calculate your nanny’s payroll tax.
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