Picky eating is common for many children between 2 to 5 years old.
For many children, picky eating is temporary, but the struggle to eat various foods may become problematic with others. Help families develop positive relationships with food instead of engaging in mealtime battles with these creative meals and food tips for picky eaters.
Encourage parents to let children pick out new produce.
Children need to eat a variety of fruits and veggies. But if the child is unwilling to try new fruits or vegetables and you’re not sure what to feed your picky eater, recommend a grocery shopping trip with the child to select something new in the produce section. For example, have they tried an avocado or maybe a pomegranate?
Also, involve them in the preparation; for example, an avocado can be used in this fun-shaped Mini Avocado and Cheese Sandwich or an Avocado Bean Tostada. It may take up to a dozen tries for a child to accept a new food but engaging them in the decision-making process may make acceptance easier.
Recommend family-style mealtimes.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, sharing one meal with the whole family, even when a child refuses to eat, will help increase the odds of eating healthy food. Counsel parents to resist the urge to be a short-order cook by trying to include at least one food the child likes at every family meal.
Make food fun! Try using food in at-home art projects.
While a bit counter-intuitive, a great tip for picky eaters to be more interested in new meals is to let them play with their food a bit. Use an ink pad and have fun with fruit stamp art. Make heart-shaped stamps with halved strawberries and halved apples to make creative star shapes. Try using dried avocado peel halves to make sailboats. Just prop up a toothpick in the center of an avocado peel by pressing it into a wad of craft clay. Then cut a small triangle-shaped sail from construction paper and tape it to the toothpick mast.
Let children pick out recipes and get them in the kitchen.
Read kid-friendly cookbooks together and let your child select new recipes to try. Then include them in the kitchen. Some cooking tasks are perfect for 2-3-year-olds (with lots of supervision), such as stirring, counting ingredients, using cookie cutters, and brushing on cooking oil. Make it a big deal when serving up their home-cooked recipe! Kids are more likely to try meals they’ve helped create. For fun, try this Avocado Banana Pancake recipe.
Get silly with funny food names.
Which do you think a child would rather eat? Green peas or monster boogers? Pirate-loving kids might indulge in sliced carrots if they are named pirate coins. Green avocado slices or guacamole might pique their interest if served as a dragon snack. This tip for picky eaters makes eating fun!
And lastly, counsel parents to use positive statements about eating behavior.
Does the parent label their child as a picky eater in front of the child? Educate them to replace negative descriptions with hopeful language like, “My child is learning to love new things.” Instead of, “He doesn’t like it,” say, “He hasn’t had it enough times.” Using positive statements helps show the child’s that their opinions towards specific foods can change.
For more tips for picky eaters, family fun recipes and snack ideas using fresh avocado, visit the recipe section at www.loveonetoday.com.
