Picky Eaters

Pickles and cheese. Those were the things that a young boy would eat. Whenever asked what he wanted to eat, it was one or both of those and that was all. Put any other vegetables or protein on his plate and he wouldn’t eat. His parents let him eat only pickles and cheese for every meal. Who knows what happened to his boy because he would cease to exist if that’s all he ate for the rest of his life.

It’s so much easier to give your kids the foods that they want. Watching your child not eating can be sad or frustrating depending on how long they’re picky eating habits have gone on. Rather than having them skip another meal, it’s easier to just break out whatever food you know they’ll eat and not fight with them on it. While this may be alright from time to time, it’s better to stick to your guns in the long run.

Don’t let kids dictate the meals. It’s your job as a parent to dictate what food will be served at each meal. If that happens to include a food that they like then great. If it doesn’t, then so be it. Your child dictates how much of the food that’s served will be eaten. If they choose not to eat, then they choose not to eat. They can skip the meal and wait until the next meal is served if they so choose.

This may seem extreme, but your child won’t starve themselves. They will eat if they need the food. By the time a child is 8 years old, they can technically start to starve themselves, so keep an eye on your child if you believe they’re developing some type of eating disorder. Skipping meals because they don’t like the food is one thing, but skipping days worth of meals is a bigger problem.

For younger children, they will eat if they are hungry. Encourage them to try new foods by putting all of the foods on their plate, and having them see you eat it. If they choose not to eat it, you can either have them leave it on their plate or else tell them that you’ll eat their food and you eat it. Sometimes them seeing you take the food on to your plate will have the effect of them wanting to eat it as well.

The earlier you get started on breaking picky food eating habits, the easier it will be to overcome them. If you’ve continued to cater to their desires for many months or years, you’re going to have a much harder time working with them on the food on their plates. Kids will generally have things they don’t want or do want - this is totally fine. However, they shouldn’t dictate to you what foods will be had at meal times.

Make sure you’re not filling times between meals with extra snacks and other of their favorites as well. Kids who eat snacks all day aren’t going to be hungry at meal times, and it’s really easy for them to skip whatever food you’ve prepared when they’re all filled up with their favorite foods at snack time. If your child is a picky eater, it may be time to start skipping snacks so that they’re actually hungry during meal times (it may be time to start skipping snacks regardless).

Having a picky eater can be a tough transition to get through. Stick to your guns and prepare the foods you want for meals, and let them choose to eat or not eat. They can eat at the next meal if they choose not to eat what’s served at the current time.