How To Deal With Picky Eaters (Children)?

Is your child refusing to grab anything other than chicken nuggets? When your child’s nutrition is an aching subject to deal with in your household, remember you are not the only one. Many parents are actually worried about the fussiness of their children over food. But your child’s food preferences would also mature with age. Until then, you can consider trying out these following tips to avoid any kind of mealtime hassles.

1. Respect your child's appetite or lack of one: Respect your child’s level of appetite and never force a meal, if your child is not hungry. Rather, serve small portions to give them an opportunity to ask for more, on their own.

2. Stick to the routine: Maintain a routine and serve snacks and meals at about the same time every day. Also, keep a check on the number of times you serve those mid meal snacks and try to stick to that count.

3. Be patient with new foods: Have patience with new food. Take time in introducing it to your child by talking about the food’s shape, color, aroma and texture, if not the taste.

4. Make it fun: Try out innovative ways of garnishing your food so as to make the whole eating experience a fun and a thrilling one for your child.

5. Recruit your child's help: At the grocery store, ask your child to help you select vegetables, fruits and other healthy foods. But keep off those foods which you would not want you child to eat.

6. Set an example: Set an example by yourself by eating all kinds of nutritious and healthy foods, in order to set that perfect example for your child.

7. Cut Distractions: Make sure to switch off from any sort of a distraction, such as the television or the washing machine and other electronic gadgets while feeding your child.

8. Don't offer dessert as a reward: Do not reward your child with desserts at the end of the meal as this sends them an indication that the dessert is the best dish among all.

9. Do not cook a separate meal: Do not cook a separate meal for your child after he/she has refused the original one as this might encourage picky eating even more.