Picky Eaters: A Helpful Approach to Changing Bad Eating Habits
My Goddaughter has been a picky eater since first being introduced to solids. To my frustration, I found that her parents saw no problem with her dislike of foods that would be beneficial to her health and growth. She gravitated to the foods that her parents enjoyed: frozen food dinners. The healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, chicken, fish and rice were constantly refused. Macaroni & Cheese became her prime meal on a daily basis. I was annoyed by this, but I found it very difficult to break her out of these bad habits. After all, this is what she was used to! Her own parents approved of her meal choices, so who was I to step in and interfere?
While babysitting my Goddaughter and my 18 month old baby, I was amazed to see the variety of foods my baby was eating and the lack of variety in my Goddaughter’s meal selection. Cooking for her became such a task. I was forced to cook two separate meals: one for the picky eater and one for the proper eater. Not only was this time consuming, it was aggravating to me. I needed to find a solution fast! So I resorted to some trickery, which worked in my benefit.
The key came in the visual presentation of the foods I was serving. I noticed that my boring plates were lacking appeal. A plate of rice, chicken and vegetables was not as enticing as a pretty slice of pizza with pepperoni and cheese. So I would separate the servings and put a large portion of healthy food alongside a special treat in a smaller portion. A plate of rice and chicken now had now had yoghurt, fruit slices or a low fat pudding on the side to compliment it. That way eating the healthy food would result in the reward of a sweet yet healthy treat. Colorful & fun plates also become popular. Presenting colorful fruits and vegetables in different shapes and designs introduced a playful aspect to eating. Making mash potatoes look like clouds and an orange look like the sun made eating healthy and fun. Mission accomplished! Problem solved!
In conclusion, I firmly believe that young children should be introduced to a variety of foods, and should not be restricted to the foods their parents prefer. This can result in the child only eating what their parents eat, and can cause problems as the child grows older, as was the case in my situation. You, the parent may not like broccoli or carrots, but why restrict your child from eating these vegetables? It never hurts to try new things, and you’d be very surprised to see that your child may have a different reaction to these foods than you’d expect! The most important thing is the health of the child, and the introduction of healthy foods at an early age will most definitely benefit the child for the rest of their life.
Shelley McRae is the Marketing/Office Manager of a courier company based out of Toronto, Canada. Shelley has a college diploma from the Sheridan College Institute of Advanced Learning in the field of Correctional Services (2003) and a BA in Sociology at York University (2006).
Please feel free to visit my website: http://www.babybesthouse.com
