Growing children need proper nutrition to support their growing bodies. Building good eating habits is critical for their integral development. Grown-ups are well aware of this necessity, however, young children may not have grasped the importance of eating well yet.
It is the role of parents to assist their children build good eating habits but it can be a major challenge especially when dealing with picky eaters. Here are some tips to prevent mealtime battles with your picky eaters:
1. Be Creative.
Parents do not need to cook special meals for the picky child, instead include something that the child loves in every meal. You can serve vegetables with their favorite dips or sauce, be patient with their first few attempts in trying the new food combination.
Laura Jana, M.D., coauthor of Food Fights and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics told Parenting.com, "You've no doubt heard that it can take 10 or even 15 tries before a child will accept a new food, so keep presenting (but not pushing) the options."
2. Set Consistent Mealtimes.
Children sometimes fight with parents to postpone mealtimes because they are not hungry yet and this might be because their growth may slow down at some point. WebMD quotes Maryann Jacobsen, RD, a San Diego-based dietitian, "It could be that your child doesn't have much of an appetite on a particular day."
Parents should set schedules for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Have time for one light snacks in the morning and another in the afternoon. Ideal intervals would be at least two hours from each meal, this allows your child to be already hungry for the next meal you will serve.
3. Negotiate Meal Control.
According to Elizabeth Pantley, the author of "The No-Cry Picky Eater Solution," "Many picky eaters want to maintain some control over their meal."
Leave areas of the mealtime that your child can still have control with, if you are already introducing a new food to try, let your child decide on the amount of food to take. Or you can negotiate it the other way around in some days, like serve the child's favorite meal at an amount you allot.
On average, a person has 10,000 taste buds which renew every two weeks. Kids are more sensitive to taste because they still have more of these taste cells, people lose taste buds as we age because some do not get replaced as it changes bi-monthly. Parents' patience must be symmetrical to the taste buds of their children, anyway their food and taste preferences will eventually mature as they age.
