Developing a healthy attitude to food
Nearly all children will be labeled a fussy eater at one time or another. This is all part of them growing up and testing their independence. But fussy eating behaviour can become a habit if you pay too much attention to it and always bend over backwards to get your child to eat.
Try these Parenting Smarter Not Harder tips to help your child develop a healthy attitude to food:
Do
- Get into a routine with meal times.
- Offer a small amount of the food that your child has refused at a later meal. Repeated tasting helps them to learn to accept new foods.
- Acknowledge good behaviours and ignore the bad.
- Allow your child to decide how much is enough.
- Offer small servings of familiar foods. Gradually introduce new foods by offering small portions. Show other family members enjoying these foods too.
- Encourage children to feed themselves. Offer finger foods.
- Plan mealtime when your child is not too tired.
Don’t- Use food as rewards or bribes. This leads to foods being labeled as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods.
- Offer lots of alternatives when the first choice is refused. You decide what’s on the menu and if your child doesn’t want it then allow them to leave the table. They may not be hungry or may just be testing you out. Offer another snack or meal later on at the right time.
- Give food like biscuits, crisps and lollies between or after meals, particularly if your child has not eaten much at that meal. This only encourages your child to refuse food at meal times. Keep these foods for occasional treats.
- Allow your children to drink lots of milk or juice before or between meals. It will spoil their appetite for other foods.
- Force-feed or make your child finish a meal when he says he is not hungry. Children have much better built in hunger and satiety cues than adults do. Forcing them to eat makes them lose these cues.
