1. Purchase Whole Foods
When you stock your pantry and refrigerator are with whole foods, your children will eat whole foods. One mom of a 14-month old recently asked me, “How do I stop her from eating junk foods.” The answer is simple, “Don’t buy them.” Unless your child has her own income and a driver’s license, she’s eating the foods you purchase.

Don’t believe the lie that some foods are “kid foods.” Fast foods, French fries, pizza, boxed macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, and the like are junk food. They offer little in the way of nutrition. Soda isn’t food at all…it’s colored High Fructose Corn Syrup (the worst kind of sugar). When these products are no longer stored in your pantry, your child will eat what’s available…whole foods.

Audrey is helping her mom serve dinner.

2. Have Family Mealtime
Today, many busy families eat together only three times a week. With just a little planning, you can change that statistic for your family. Initiate your supper with a prayer of thanksgiving. Take a few moments to acknowledge God and what He has provided.

When you make wholesome family meals and have real food in your home, your kids will eat whole foods. When you cook and eat vegetables during dinner, your kids will follow your example and grow up liking them. Your table should be a stress-free zone. Save discussions of the economic crisis, inflation, or the latest bad news for another time. Family mealtime discussions should center on each other and the good things God has provided.

3. Incorporate Multi-Sensory Learning
Good eaters naturally use all their senses. Picky eaters need to be taught how to incorporate all their senses during mealtimes. We usually plop a new food down and expect a child to eat it. It may take 10 or more times before a new food is accepted. Don’t pressure your child to eat something the first time she sees it. Incorporate all the senses before mealtimes by having your child help with preparing the meal. Then, during dinner continue to encourage multi-sensory learning by talking about the food. What color is it? What’s the texture like? What does it smell like? You engage all the senses when you talk about the food served, touch it and experience it by smelling and enjoying the flavor and texture.

Eating preferences often change. Parents should keep preparing a variety of healthful foods and putting them on the table, even if a child initially refuses to take a bite. It takes three weeks to develop a new habit and it may take 10 or more attempts when introducing a food. Don’t give up too soon. Keep the dialog around the table happy and the discussion of the food positive. Never announce you don’t like a certain vegetable (or allow anyone else for that matter). Auditory learning is vital; your child will certainly follow your lead. When children experience the attributes of a refused food, it’s more likely they’ll eat it.

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1. Take Just One Bite
The one-bite rule (one bite is required of every food) is ineffective. Studies show children react negatively when parents pressure them to eat foods, even if the pressure offers a reward. The one bite rule translates to a child that ”some food is so YUCKY only one bite is required.” The issue is compounded when parents offer a reward, such as watching a video or offering a sweet dessert, for tasting a refused food. Bribing kids to eat certain foods teaches children that holding out will prove to be beneficial. Food should never be offered as a reward for behavior.

Aaron takes one bite.
Aaron’s mom is a professional photographer.
You can see her work at Mary Beth Graff Photography: http://www.mbgpics.com/

2. Sending Kids Out of the Kitchen
You’re busy and kids need supervision in the kitchen. They can and get in the way of getting the meal on the table in time. Although, when children are involved with food preparation, it’s more likely they will eat what’s been prepared. Of course, all food preparation should be parent-supervised. Kids shouldn’t get too close to hot stoves, boiling water, and knives. Meal preparation is an important first step in getting picky eaters to try new foods. The older your picky eater is, the more he should be involved in food preparation. Even a toddler can help wash fruit and veggies, peel a banana, mix ingredient, etc. You will soon find that you have a budding chef in your midst, instead of a picky eater. To read the “10 Commandments for Kitchen Safety” Click Here.

3. Permitting Snacking Before Mealtimes
Parents often sabotage their best efforts when they allow snacking before mealtimes. Snacking on junk foods or even nutritious munchies too close to mealtimes is guaranteed to dull the appetite. You’ll never convince a child to eat a refused food, if he’s had a snack thirty minutes beforehand. Snacks should be timed two hours before a meal. You are in charge of the kitchen and the kitchen should be closed before meals. If your toddler’s tiny tummy can’t wait until dinnertime, then prepare a mini-meal including veggies, not a cookies or crackers, and then don’t expect too much at dinnertime.

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Thanksgiving may be over, but don’t stop giving thanks. Initiate your supper with a prayer of thanksgiving. Take a few moments at the beginning of each meal to acknowledge the Creator and the blessings your family has received during the day. What a better time is there to thank God than when the family sits together to break bread?

Photo: Mealtime is happy time for cousins Angel and Ally.

The table should be a stress-free zone, especially for the picky eater. Enjoyment of food is directly tied to the mood around the table. Leave financial stresses or other matters of concern to be tackled at another time. Save corrections for your children, such as poor grades or messy bedrooms, for after-dinner discussion. The focus at dinner should be on your family and what each has done during the day.

Take time to enjoy your family and your dinner, don’t rush away from the table to watch the latest sitcom episode. You’ll be glad you did. Two of my daughters have begun a tradition during their family meals. They ask their young children what’s their “rose for the day” and “thorn for the day.” This simple question makes dinnertime special, even for the smallest children. It includes your youngsters in the dinner conversation, and lets them know they’re important, too.

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The food isn’t placed on individual plates until after everyone is seated and you’ve said grace. Which is the signal that it’s now time to begin eating the meal. If you’re not already thanking God for your blessings before you eat, it’s a good habit to begin. Saying grace will focus everyone’s attention on thankfulness. We found that the gesture of holding hands during grace helped to still our fidgety pre-schoolers during the few moments of prayer.

Attitude is everything. You know when your child is being childish and when your child is testing you. It’s natural that toddlers are messy when they eat. Accidentally spilling milk shouldn’t come with a consequence. But, it’s obvious when your toddler is defiantly throwing food in order to avoid eating it.

That’s when positive-discipline comes into play. Time out is an effective positive-discipline method to enforce mealtime rules. When your little one’s naughty behavior disrupts dinner, remove her from the table. Gently deposit her on a child-size chair facing a wall. The place you decide on for your child’s time out should be devoid of activity.

An appropriate time out is one minute for every year of age. Although, time spent crying doesn’t apply to the time-out minutes. Of course older, grade school children may be excused from dinner altogether, when naughty behavior becomes an issue. That includes enjoying any anticipated dessert.

Eating with your mouth closed is a learned behavior. If your child chews with his mouth open, kindly remind him to close his mouth when chewing. If your child speaks with food in her mouth, ask that she, “Please finish swallowing before talking.” Not only is it impolite to talk with a mouth full of food, it could be a choking hazard.

“That’s yucky! It’s disgusting. Or I don’t like that!” are comments that should never be tolerated. Not only is it impolite for children to make rude remarks about the food prepared, it cements the idea that some food is yucky. Look for positive attributes for your child’s less favorite items. What color is it? Who especially likes to eat this food? What is the texture like?

Burping at the table is distracting and unappetizing. Sometimes a child can’t control a burp. Instruct your child to close his mouth before he burps and to say, “excuse me”, afterward. Never encourage inappropriate behavior by laughing. Purposely belching isn’t to be tolerated and your child should be removed from the table if he does.

Interrupting others is also impolite. Teach your children to say, “excuse me” when they want your attention. If they continually interrupt you while you’re talking, remind her to be patient, “Please wait one minute, then I’ll listen.” When children take part in the family discussion at the table, the temptation to interrupt will be less. An interactive dinner conversation booster is for family members, including children, to tell about something memorable that happened during their day.

Kids often grab things from across the table. All that is needed is a reminder that you’d be happy to pass the item, if only they’d ask. Playing with food is often considered impolite. But, it depends on the age of your child and if the “play” is constructive. If an older child is being obnoxious and distracting, he’s obviously testing your patients, a toddler needs to experience all the attributes of a food, before appreciating it’s taste.

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