Supper Wars: 5 Tips for Her Picky Eaters

29 Oct, 2012

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It’s supper time moms and you know what that means (cue in Rocky music), you are on a mission to feed the sweet faces of your brood with nutrition and be praised for making such a great meal.

Reality check: There are five different people at your table, three of which are little people with  larger than life personalities. And those sweet little faces, they have mouths that shut tighter than national security during a security breach.

So here are five tips to get your kids to eat better (and it makes those trips to the pediatrication a little easier–you’ll feel more confident about the nutrition they’re getting :-) ).

 

Little Assistants

If you’ve been following my posts, most of you know by now I have two very strong-willed kids (sorry for the repeat folks). And when I mean strong-willed, I mean they will hold their breath until they pass out, they will go toe to toe over the smallest direction. Some days when my hubby comes home, he ends up ringing the bell as I head back into the boxing ring for another round.

I’ve found in terms of getting my kids to eat is to have them help making supper. When your kids to get touch and see the food as it is being prepped, they are more likely to experiment with taste and think it isn’t so bad. The evenings at my house are a little noisy because my small kitchen has a 4, 6, and 13-year-old in the kitchen, peeling potatoes, shredding chicken or making bread.

When you are prepping for supper, allow them to help and offer tastes of the food as well as the seasonings.

Something as simple as shucking corn makes dinner friendlier.

Offer Choices

At our house we offer choices. Our kids each have a vegetable or meat they opt out of eating but then have to replace that food with something else. This gives the kids confidence in their decision-making skills, and empowers them to make healthy choices. Here are some suggestive phrases: 

“Feel free to have some ice cream when you finish your broccoli.”

“Don’t want to eat brussel sprouts? You may pick either corn or the mixed veggies from the table.”

Another quick tip: Growing your produce helps introduce your kids to the idea of eating it. We didn’t mind our kids snacking on cherry tomatoes, raspberries and broccoli during our long summer days.

 

Puree Puree Puree 

I’m so NOT a fan of hiding food from my kids-however, it is very handy when I’m serving things like zucchini. The kids don’t like the texture or color or flavor. My kids’ favorite meal is Meatloaf (Ugh…I despise meatloaf). With this traditional American meal, I can hide carrots, cauliflower, zucchini and so much more. 

When I first started making this dish, I didn’t allow my kids to help. Now that they are older, they LOVE seeing carrots get juiced in the blender. They know its going into their favorite dish and they don’t mind. :-)  

Tip: You can puree cauliflower and add it to Mac n Cheese. :-) None of my kids like this cheap, nutrient packed veggie. 

 

Keep it Simple

Kids aren’t fans of gourmet meals. The simpler the better. My kids like grilled chicken, steamed broccoli and homemade biscuits  and they would rather not touch Chicken Cordon Bleu, cheesy broccoli and cheesy bread-sticks. 

When eating meals with your kids, keep at eye on what they gravitate towards and plan your meals accordingly. 

 

Cut the Filler

When meal time arrives and your child would rather make faces at his siblings or crawl under the table, consider why they aren’t hungry. I stopped giving snacks after school because we eat at 5:15 each day. Because my husband is in college and we want to eat together as a family, we eat sooner than later. So if I feed my kids fishy crackers 1.5 hours before supper, they aren’t likely to eat. Hunger is a great motivator to try new foods. 

 

So moms, these are my bag of tricks for meal time, what do you do for your picky eaters? 

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1 Comment

  1. Rachel
    October 30, 2012

    Sam and I were just talking about this topic last night. We know that’s an issue we won’t have to face for awhile yet, but these tips are great info to have! Thanks, Heather!

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