More strategies for the picky eater
Some other strategies to interest your preschooler in the food you serve:
• Eat the way you want your child to eat.
• Eat together as a family at least once a day. Talk with your child about the most interesting, or worst, or best things that happened to each of you that day. Encourage conversation and discussion.
• Take your child shopping. Let her help select the produce and other foods that will be served during the week.
• Let your child help in the kitchen. He's more likely to eat dinner when he's seen what's gone into it, and he'll be proud of his contribution.
• Grow some of your own food -- even if it's just a potful of parsley. One little girl who despised green beans claimed them to be her favourite food after she grew some in her dad's vegetable garden.
• Give unfamiliar foods silly or exotic names. Who could resist Toad-in-the-Hole?
• Serve food cut into interesting shapes. Use a metal cookie cutter to cut shapes out of sandwiches.
• Choose healthy fast foods. Pick up barbecued chicken from the supermarket; boil up some perogie; microwave a burrito; add some cheese and vegetables to a plain pizza crust.
• Serve vegetables raw.
• Let your child dip his vegetables -- in yogurt, preferably, but in ketchup or salad dressing, if you're desperate.
• Offer plenty of water -- which prevents dehydration and constipation and won't dull your child's appetite.
• Don't keep junk foods around the house, so that neither you nor your child will be tempted by them.
• Peer pressure can work magic. Your child may be more willing to try new foods at preschool or when he has a friend to dinner.
Preventing long-term eating disorders
If your child has problems with food and eating, think carefully about whether your own attitudes may be influencing him. The primary purpose of food is to nourish the body. It should not be used as a reward or as a punishment.
Don't soothe a disappointed child with a cookie, or discipline a mischievous act by withholding dessert. Reward the child's success with an extra bedtime story instead of candy. When food becomes entangled with feelings of self-worth, eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and chronic dieting can result in later years. Your positive, non-judgmental approach will help your child have a healthy attitude toward food and eating throughout his life.
