Picky eating kids can drive a sane mommy crazy. though it pains me to admit: after having three children, I’ve learned that I can not really control what a child will and won’t eat. but I do have influence over the options that are available, and so I focus on that. At the end of this post, I will share my battle-tested methods for taking care of picky eating children.
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Before I try to boss you around, I want to share my picky eating credentials. Kid 1 was a pretty good eater and we were very neurotic, dedicated first-time parents (not that there’s anything wrong with that), hell-bent on getting him to eat every bite blob of food on his spoon. He ate a very healthy balance of fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins. as of age ten, he won’t eat cooked fruit (apple pie – WTW?!) or plain cheese pizza, preferring vegetables on his pizza to the point of pouting at parties where only cheese is available. He’s a little bit picky but mostly a excellent eater of lots of foods. and yes, we are those food a**holes who serve kale salads to our kids on the regular. kid 1 eats them with relish and wants to make sure we are appropriately massaging each leaf. (Not actual relish made of pickles.)
Kid 2 was also a pretty good eater from the start. rather than force the “clean your plate” mentality of our own childhoods, we had progressed as parents to encourage a “Try-It Bite” for every new food, and then left it up to him as to whether he would eat more. He was a frequent eater of frozen waffles and plain yogurt but also ingested a healthy combination of other foods. If anything, he opened up our eyes about a broader range of possibilities for nutritious foods. He prefers plain pizza to veggie, but he always eats the broccoli we offer on the side.
Kid 3 has been a picky eater from the womb. He was a voracious nurser that required formula supplementation nearly immediately. I must have known that we couldn’t rest on our good experience. He developed a penchant for dairy and carbs (plain cheese quesadillas and cheese pizza are his best foods) such that I couldn’t even get him to eat fruit without disguising it as a cracker (thanks to Trader Joe’s freeze dried strawberries, he now eats the real thing). The “Try-It Bite” has devolved into the “No-Thank-You Lick”. It took us 3-5 times of using ice cream before he would even put it to his lips. I’ve caught myself doing a delighted dance when he ate his first dinosaur-shaped chicken nugget, because he had never agreed to try chicken before!
Because our picky kid was our third kid, I had no choice but to accept this as a thing about HIM rather than a thing about ME. I am positive if my first child had been the one to turn up his nose at a grape or carrot, I would have blamed myself.
Having experienced two kids who will eat anything and one who will not, I have some mantras and reminders I give myself and my spouse to help us stay sane.
Tips for parents of selective eaters:
Remove all pressure around eating. I practice acting like I don’t care if the meal or dish is finished because I know my child will not go hungry. (See banana idea below.) say — and believe — “You don’t have to eat it.” You wouldn’t force me to eat a cilantro leaf, so don’t force your toddler.
Offer one safe food with every new food. We make sure that there’s a familiar dish on the table. Our dinner times typically include a seemingly random banana or waffle option for this reason. The kid might not try the new thing, but he won’t starve.
Only allow food at specified meal and snack times. Truth be told, I’m delighted enough if my kids fill up on healthy snacks. An apple ideal before dinner?どうぞ。 but hell to the No, you may not eat a snack after the dinner if you just ignored it. The kitchen is closed and you will make it until morning.No candy and treats for children who don’t eat their real food.実際に。 I am hardcore this way.
Encourage good manners. With some meals — like the white bean chili I plan to serve tonight — I know that only my spouse and I will actually eat it willingly. It is my job to prepare healthy meals (every flipping day) and it is their job to be polite about it. They can sit without making faces and say “No thank you”, or “Just a little please.”
Be curious, not furious. If they do taste an icky food, I encourage my sons to become little scientists and check out further. I want them to think about why they didn’t like it — would cheese sauce make it better or worse? Is there a cilantro problem here? would you eat red sauce on the side next time? — and not be jerks.
Find creative ways to serve fruits and vegetables:Â Pinterest can be your pal and enemy when serving sandwiches that look like spiders or hummus-guacamole crocodiles but a little inventiveness can go a long way. two of my kids love roasted broccoli; Whitney served frozen peaches instead of popsicles with terrific success; little crispy凍結乾燥エンドウ豆は、私のクラッカーを愛する野菜を嫌う幼児と素晴らしいことについて話し合います。一部の子供たちはただ浸るのが大好きなので、ヒムでにんじんを与えてください。緑のスムージーはハルクシェイクになる可能性があります。メロンまたはチーズをつまようじに置きます。ヨナナのフルーツトリートマシンでデザートとしてバナナを渡してみてください。ここに、うるさい幼児のためのより多くのアイデアがあります。
さまざまな温度を試してください。フォームの側面での実験（ヒント6）に加えて、私はすべての子供が熱い食べ物や冷たい食べ物を望んでいるわけではないことを学びました。冷凍エンドウ豆を凍った子供と調理するのを好む子供が1人います。簡単です。ホイットニーは、彼女の子供たちがトルテリーニ・コールド（イェーイ、ランチボックスで何か新しいもの）が好きだったことを知ってショックを受けました。私の赤ちゃんは、冷たいスムージーが寒すぎると考えているので、冷やしたアイテムを制限し、彼と共有しているときに室温のバナナを使用します。
日、週、そして人生の段階で全体像を考えてください。栄養的にバランスの取れた食品は、すべての食事で使用する必要はありません。それは長期にわたってバランスが取れていますか？あなたの医者は心配していますか？私はそうではないので、私たちはそれを選んでいるだけです。
それらを関与させてください。あなたの子供は、庭で育つ新しい食べ物を試したり、スーパーマーケットから選んだり、準備を手伝ったりする準備ができているかもしれません。か否か。私の子供は文字通り、裏庭からチェリートマトを摘みながら新しい食べ物を試してみることについて歌いましたが、それから味わいませんでした。先に進みます。
子供が食べるもののリストを作成します。両親が子供をうるさいと呼び、問題なく落ちる食べ物のリストをガタガタと呼ぶとき、私はいつもショックを受けます。今朝、私は「はい、彼女は米、豆、果実、麺、洋ナシを食べますが、肉ではありません。」と聞きました。彼らが豆を食べる人を持っていることをとても嬉しく思いました。
子供たちに、味覚が時間とともに変化することを知らせてください。彼は今日のキノコのピザが好きではないかもしれませんが、彼が年をとったとき – フーレイ – 彼はそうします。そして、笑顔でそれを言ってください。私はその可能性をぶら下げて、大きな子供であるという別のバッジのようにぶら下がるのが好きなので、それは私の小さな人が目指すことができるものです。その動作かどうかは誰が知っていますか。 10年後に私に聞いてください！
結論：
Ellyn Satterが言うように、両親は提供されるものを制御し、子供はそれを食べるとコントロールします。私たちの家族の物語の教訓は、子供たちが私が好きな新しい食べ物と混ざり合っている健康的な食べ物を提供し続けることです。私はまた、彼らが自分自身のために丁寧に準備できるバックアップ食べ物を持っています（フルムとフムスとピタ）。
PSは、ピックな食事を持っていない場合、ピックな食事を修正する方法を教えてくれる人に依存しません。 2歳の人が庭から野菜を収穫して食べているなら、彼女はうるさいことではなく、両親が私を兄弟にしてはいけません！
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