Cooking

Are you a mother (or father) of a picky eater child? If so, then you must have gone through the frustration, which the mother of a picky eater goes through. But now you don’t have to worry at all. Given below are certain tips, strategies and meal ideas from some parents and professionals for the parents of picky eaters.

Tips and Strategies for Feeding Picky Eaters

·        Encourage your child to eat new foods. But don’t present them in large quantities. You can introduce them on weekly basis. You can ask him to try just a bite of the food, but don’t force him to eat it if he doesn’t want to eat.

·        Child learns by looking at his parents. So, be a good role model. Eat good and healthy foods in front of him. Let him see that you love and enjoy different kinds of foods. He may get inspired from you and start eating the healthy food.

·        Make the foods appearance more appealing. Try using foods of various colors and cut them out into various shapes. Heart-shaped cookies or triangular sandwiches are more appealing to the children than the simple ones.

·        Serve food in a different way. Your child may hate food prepared in one way but may love it when prepared in different way. You can serve with a sauce or a dip.

·        Present the same food by giving it some interesting creative name.

·        Don’t ever force your child to eat the food. Let him eat the food he wants to eat. Don’t punish him if he refuses to eat. Don’t offer food as a bribe or a reward.

·        Teach your child about good nutrition. Tell him the importance of healthy and nutritious foods.

·        Don’t prepare special separate food for you child. Prepare a single healthy meal for everyone in the family. Let you child eat the same food.

·        Involve your child in food preparation. Let him prepare some food for himself.

Meal Ideas for Picky Eaters

Try to prepare various healthy, picky eater recipes for your child. You can try to incorporate nutritious recipes like:

·        Chicken salads

·        Grilled cheese sandwiches

·        Waffles

·        Nachos

·        Omelets

·        Pancakes

·        Spaghetti

·        Vegetable soups.

Prepare desserts like strawberry smoothies, ice creams or banana muffins once a week.

Instead of serving plain boiled vegetables, boil the vegetables in chicken or mutton soup and serve it. While preparing a sauce for spaghetti, add some vegetables to it.

Instead of serving boiled carrots, serve raw carrots with a dip or a sauce.

If your child refuses to eat veggies, offer them more fruits. If he refuses to eat fruits too, offer him fruit blended with milk, juice, or water. Adding yogurt, peanut butter or honey can make it tastier.

Brian Kennedy is a line cook and the single parent of two picky eaters. He runs an informational website with smart parenting recipes, nutritional guidelines, and snack ideas. To take advantage of all this and more, be sure to check out Brian’s website Picky Eaters at http://www.RecipesForPickyEaters.com

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