Sometimes little kids get overwhelmed if there’s too much on the plate at once.
For toddlers, keep it to 2-3 types of food on one plate. As they grow older, add more variety in small quantities to look more like Mom or Dad’s plate.
Experts suggest waiting 3-5 days before introducing new foods to toddlers. Keep on offering the same food at each meal so that your child can get used to the taste and texture of the food.
Plant A Veggie Garden
This is a fun way to “make your own food.” It is so rewarding to eat your own produce.
Easy vegetables to grow in small pots:
Carrots
Green Beans
Cherry Tomatoes
Peas
Lettuce
Sneaky Idea: I’ve heard of a parent that “helped” the veggie garden grow. Miraculously a whole potato popped out overnight. And once, a tin of tuna grew! That night it was very easy for their kid to eat all their dinner 😉.
Lead By Example
Whatever we do, our kids also want to do.
So we need to show our kids that we enjoy eating a variety of healthy foods.
This includes foods our kids see us putting in the grocery cart, storing in the pantry, and munching on during the day.
Keep All Food Equal
This is a really helpful concept we came across a while back.
Often, parents use dessert as a “reward” for getting through dinner.
This automatically tells our kid that dessert is better than the other food. And this is counterproductive thinking when we are dealing with picky eaters.
We have to try to keep broccoli and cookies equal (somehow).
The idea is to offer it all at once – if you are a family that offers cookies or dessert. So on your kid’s plate would be chicken, carrots, broccoli, and a cookie.
This can also help avoid a power struggle as you’ve left the “choice” up to the kid. You have allowed them to be independent and to eat their food in any order.
Keep On Offering It
Some experts suggest that kids need to be exposed to food many times before trying it. And many times more before enjoying it.
So at each meal, place a little carrot or a little roast pumpkin on their plate. Without making a fuss.
Just leave a small bit there for “exploration.”
Make Meals Fun
Here are some wacky ideas to make mealtime more fun:
Backward Dinner – why not have dessert first?
Roll the Dice – each food item is numbered, and kids take turns rolling the dice. For example, when they roll a “4”, it’s time to eat the green beans!
Rainbow Meal – tonight, all food is red (or blue, or orange… you get the idea).
Dress up.
Play a funny game.
Pro-Dad Tip: There’s a viral dinner idea going around where nugget dinosaurs climb a mountain of mashed potato, surrounded by broccoli trees. Some parents have even figured out how to include an erupting volcano of ketchup!
Don’t Focus On The Food
We are often so desperate for our kids just to eat something that we make a huge deal out of it.
“Ooooh, mmm, carrots! Yummy. This is soooo good!”
Imagine going to a restaurant and the waiter was doing a song and a dance waving food in your face to get you to order it.
It’s just too much.
Dads, try this at meal times – “Here you go” (put down the plate)… and move on with the conversation.
How was school today?
What did you learn?
Did anything interesting happen at art club?
Include Your Kid In Meal Prep
You might win a lot of battles by asking your kid what should be on the weekly menu.
It can also be really helpful for picky eaters to be part of the meal prep. It helps them get to know the food that will be on their plate.
This can be a good way to spend quality time with your kid, too.
Here are some ideas for easy tasks for kids during meal prep:
Washing the fruit and veggies
Mashing, mixing, or grating
Being in charge of the egg-timer
Reading out the recipe
Pro-Dad Tip: There are some really cool toddler knives available. These are perfect for learning how to use knives safely. They are usually made of bamboo, silicone or plastic – perfect for cutting bananas, hard-boiled eggs, or boiled potatoes.
Sneak It In
Sometimes, you just gotta do what you gotta do 🙂
Blend your veggies in the food mixer and hide them in:
Smoothies
Soups
Bolognaise
Homemade Nuggets
Eat Together
Mealtime is so much more than just eating food.
Think back to some of your best conversations – I bet they all involved some kind of food.
Sitting together is so important for your family relationships.
