Feeding fussy children

Feeding fussy children

In the last post in this ecourse on the joy of food, we discussed a number of ways to successfully introduce a new meal to the family. This time we are going to focus on how to cope with feeding fussy children.

Eating habits can become ingrained from a very young age, and food refusal can become a real nightmare for parents, especially if your child goes the route of many kids: the white route. This means bread, pasta, potatoes, and often means weight gain as well. More than 33% of children in the US are now overweight or obese, and type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure have been diagnosed in children as young as two years old. The only way to combat this trend is with healthy, balanced, home-cooked meals.

Eating Together

The first way to deal with fussiness is to eat at the table together, not let them graze. Regular meals and not too many snacks will mean they will be hungry for real food. 

Don’t make the dinner table a battleground. Start introducing new foods when they are young, in a structured way. Plan to serve each new food every day for about a week. Be sure it is well cooked and in small pieces so no one will have any trouble chewing and swallowing it. One good example of this is broccoli.

Put the food on their plate on the first night and say they can eat as much of it as they like. Do the same every night for the rest of the week. Don’t fight or argue with them; just put it on the plate and see what they eat. Studies have shown that this method actually works better than the "reward" method of letting them be excused from the table, or getting dessert, once they’ve finished their broccoli.

Also, allowing children to help with dinner, allows them to go through the cooking process. A great example is adding the cheese to the salad, adding the spices on the chicken, etc. Make it fun to be in the kitchen and let them smell, taste, and provide with support in the kitchen. 

Other Tips

If they have lunch at school at their meal program, get a menu for the week if you can and ask your child what they enjoyed each day. Then start to make it yourself.

If you’re at a community potluck or picnic, put together one plate. Taste the food yourself and put together a plate for them of easy things to eat. Again, pay attention to what they like. 

Most kids love sweet things. Skip the candy and stick to fresh and dried fruit. For dessert, aim for recipes with fruit in them, such as apple crumble.

All kids love fun food presented nicely. You can create "cupcakes" for lunch or dinner - that is, a complete meal in a muffin cup. Use pretty papers to make the meal even more interesting. Ham and cheese, chicken and vegetables and more can all become fun meals your kids will devour. 

But what if you have to feed fussy adults? More on this next time.