Of course, that naturally begs the question, what do you serve?
I only have four rules when it comes to feeding picky eaters.
- Eat family meals.
A family meal is any meal eaten together, face to face. Everyone is served the same food, family-style (no separate, re-heated frozen dinners). Everyone sits down together at the same time. And ideally, the TV is off.
- Always have 2 things on the table you know the kids will like.
Relax. I didn't say you had to prepare two separate meals. I said have two things on the table the kids can fill up on, such as:
- bread and butter
- chips and tomato salsa
- grapefruit halves
- carrot sticks and peanut butter
- celery sticks with cream cheese
- apple slices with peanut butter
- fruit and cheese plate.
- Let the kids eat as much or as little as they want from the foods that are on the table. If they want nothing but bread and butter, so be it.
It isn't your job to force them to try two bites of broccoli or anything else, for that matter. Eventually, they will learn to expand their palates by tuning into what their bodies need.
- Abandon two-bite rules, forced vegetable-eating, sneaking vegetables, or begging, bribing, cajoling or commenting on what they eat or don't eat.
Unless your child is very young, in which case you have to be concerned about whether or not a food is safe for him to eat, or allergic to certain foods, it's best if you avoid noticing what he eats at all.
Remember, the very act of eating family meals together is enough all by itself to achieve all of your healthy eating (and many of your lifelong) goals for your kids. Focus on that, and the rest will take care of itself.
For more help, sign up for my Picky Eaters Email Course and my 12 Easy Meals for Busy Families email course.
