The tantrum generally begins with loud moans, groans, and whining. It ends with your child pushing the offending food to the side of the plate and refusing to it. Meals can be a real battleground when you are trying to get children to eat healthy. Toddlers can be especially bad for this and introducing them to new foods can be major problem area. Fortunately as children grow they generally become a little more enthusiastic about eating but while they are in the toddler and preschool phase you sometimes have to use your wits to trick them into eating healthier foods.
Fruits, vegetables, and protein rich foods can be especially difficult for children to immediately enjoy. For a while I worried that my one daughter would starve rather than eat anything that looked remotely like a fruit or vegetables. It took awhile for me to figure out a few tricks but thankfully I did. The tactics I've learned are now immensely helpful in feeding my fussy granddaughter.
Sprinkle a little magic into the meals kids most often refuse to eat. Many meat, fruit, and vegetable foods can be quite chewy and this can be a lot of work for a small child to eat. When foods are either left whole or chopped into smaller pieces they are more likely to be looked on favourably. The closer a food is to looking like a treat or snack food the more likely it is to be eaten.
Cookie cutters can be a parent's best friend. Fruits, vegetables, and sandwiches can be easily transformed into a friendlier shape. Chopping or styling food into fun designs will have your child more likely to try them out. It does not take much effort to press a sandwich into a fun shape or to turn mashed potatoes into a snowman or snow capped mountain. Fruits and vegetables can easily be transformed into all manner of fun creations.
Kid friendly meals involve fun. Play is an important part of a child's learning and food is no exception to this rule. If you can make a meal time fun then they will be much more likely to want to eat it. You are only limited by your imagination so think outside the box.
Hiding fruits and vegetables under sauce or providing a dip to dunk them in is a great way to get fussy kids to eat these healthy foods. Meats and vegetables can be easily served with a small side dish of gravy, cheese sauce, ketchup, gravy, salad dressing, or sweet and sour sauce.
For children a sauce generally makes any food taste better so serve up fruit and vegetables with a dunking sauce. Apple slices or strawberries can be accompanied by a caramel or chocolate dunking sauce to make them more fun to eat.
Finger Foods Can be More Fun
Cutting food into tiny more manageable pieces makes eating them less of a chore. It also increases the likelihood that they will be magically transformed into finger foods which for kids is a very big deal. This is also why cheese slices, corn on the cob, or a chicken leg that they are able to pick up and munch on can be more desirable than other foods. Better table manners can come into the picture as the child matures. Flatware can be awkward to use and this learning experience can be another part of the dining process that can be annoying to a child. The trick to getting a picky child to eat can be as simple as making that plate of food appear less threatening so make those big bad dining problems go away.
Hiding foods inside one another is a sneaky trick that often works to get a fussy child to chow down. It's the reason I love adding sauces to my dining table. Being able to dunk vegetables, meat, or a sandwich into a favourite sauce can make eating so much more fun.
If it doesn't look like a fruit or vegetable is it still one? Sneaking those icky foods into ones that kids love can work. Tomato soup, vegetable soup, spaghetti sauce, pizza, apple sauce, raisin oatmeal cookies, and jello salad are foods that appear intentionally designed to trick kids into eating their fruits and vegetables. Pizza is a perfect example of a food that most kids will happily eat. They have no idea that tomato sauce and the meat on the pizza are actually good for them so don't tell them. (Off topic a bit, did you know that tomatoes are a fruit, and not a vegetable?) Just a little food trivia that is an interesting fact to know.
Some Foods Are More Fun Than Others
Healthy food shouldn't have to be scary but for kids all these new things can be quite a challenge to accept. Fortunately there are ways to transform your child's meals into something they may decide to eat. Mashed, baked, or fried, the versatile potato can be prepared in so many different ways and this may be the reason why children tend to like potatoes. Potatoes are quite rich in vitamin C so definitely no slouch in the nutritional department. When french fries are fried in healthier oils they are really not that nasty of a vegetable option to feed your children.
Celery can be filled with peanut butter or cream cheese to give it more kid appeal. Antioxidant rich raisins popped on top of celery can be ants walking on a log or used to style as eyes on a creature creation. White or orange cream cheese can be great for holding things in place. Kids don't often recognize raisins as a fruit or pickles as a vegetable so it is generally quite easy to get them to chow down on these. Corn on the cob, watermelon, berries, and dried fruit snacks are fruits and vegetables that children can generally be convinced to consume.
Juice and yogurt can be transformed into jello, smoothies, or popsicles. Some of the newer juices combine both fruits and vegetables into their mix and are available in an array of delicious flavours. One glass of these juices can provide a full serving of vegetables as well as one full serving of fruit.
Chop It Mash It or Hide It Inside Something
Learning to enjoy new foods can be difficult for young children which means that meals should always be a stress free zone. Kids will learn to enjoy dining much quicker if they don't have to be afraid of their dinner plate. Encourage them to try new foods but don't force your child to consume them.
There are a wide variety of portion plates available for kids and these colourful shapes and designs can truly brighten up meal time. Have two or three different plates available for your child to choose from. Having some control over their meal time selections can help to alleviate some of the pressure that comes along with the introduction of new foods. Keep stress to a minimum.
A Variety of Options Gives The Child More Control Over Their Meal Time Choices
Sauces Can be a Key To Healthier Eating
A fondu is an excellent way to get kids to eat all manner of fruits, vegetables and meat. The more variety for this dish the better so chop food into small bite size pieces and serve with a chocolate, butterscotch, cheese, gravy, beef or chicken broth, or basic white sauce. Dipping is fun and being able to choose which foods they want to try in the different sauces encourages them to be a little braver in their choices. Keep your dining room table as stress free as possible.