How to Stop your Child's Picky Eating, In it's tracks so they don't suffer nutrition deficiency.

By-Ruth Soukup.

1. STOP GIVING CHOICES:

My husband & i found that we were allowing our kids to dictate what they ate far too often. This doesn’t mean that we don’t still occasionally let them choose between two different meal options (we do), but for the most part, we adhere to the very wise preschool philosophy of “You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.” Specific requests are considered, but not always honored immediately. Furthermore, we do not make separate meals. If we are trying a new recipe, whether it be fish, casserole, soup, or anything else, our kids eat what we eat. If they refuse to eat it, they don’t eat. This was something we had to enforce quite frequently in the beginning, but these days almost never. Ultimately we discovered that no kid will starve from missing a meal, and they will eat eventually.

2. THE THREE TRY RULE:

I read somewhere one time that most kids are wary of new things, and that it takes at least three separate exposures for something to become familiar. Once it is familiar, it will usually be accepted without resistance. It made so much sense that we adopted a Three Try Rule for food in our house. Our girls are not allowed to refuse a food or say they don’t like something until they have tried it at least three separatetimes. (Not three bites, three different meals.)  Amazingly enough, we have yet to find something that they haven’t absolutely loved after the third try, even when the first try resulted in tears.

After following this rule for so long, we have found that our kids now are much more willing to try new things the first time because they understand that even if they think they don’t like it right away, they might like it eventually.

3. LIMIT SNACKS:

It is hard to get kids to try new things and eat healthy, well-balanced meals if they are constantly filling up on snacks. I can’t say that we never give our kids snacks or junk food, but it is definitely the exception, not the rule. We especially avoid snacking anytime in the two hours before dinnertime, and don’t allow snacks after dinner, especially if the child requesting the snack didn’t eat their dinner.

This is often easier said than done! The pre-dinner hour can be rough, especially for toddlers and preschoolers, and the fastest way to entertain a whiney three-year-old is to appease him with a bowl full of goldfish. Until, of course, dinner is finally ready and he refuses to eat even one bite. Then an hour later, just before bedtime, you give him another snack because you don’t want him to go to bed hungry, and the vicious cycle continues.

For me this was probably the hardest habit to break, until I finally realized that the only way to get my kids to eat well was to sometimes let them be hungry.

4. EMPHASIZE GOOD MANNERS:

We wanted our kids to understand that being picky about food and saying I don’t like that, or that looks gross, when someone else has spent time cooking for them was not only unacceptable, but incredibly rude. This meant teaching them about manners, and what it means to have good manners in all sorts of different situations, including at the table.

5. CONSTANT REINFORCEMENT:

Being picky (and rude) is simply not an option in our family, but this rule requires constant reinforcement. Before we go to anyone’s house or to a restaurant, we will usually have a 3 minute pep talk in the car, which usually goes something like this:

Me:   What are our expectations of you?Them:  To be polite and use our mannersMe:  How do we use our manners?Them:  Say please and thank you, yes ma’am and no ma’am, don’t run around, look people in the eye, clear our plates.Me:  What do we do if we get served food we’re not sure we like?Them:  We eat it!Me:  What DO we say?Them:  Thank you for this yummy food!Me:  What DON’T we say?Them: I don’t like it!

Even with the pep talk, they still have their moments. There have been times where we have had to pull them aside to remind them of the rules, and then make them apologize. Kids will be kids, which means constant reinforcement will always be necessary.

Final Thoughts...

Raising non-picky eaters is no easy task. It means being willing to sacrifice short term peace in favor of the long-term gain. It is an exhausting and hard-fought battle, but, at least in this family, ultimately so worth the effort.