While being picky may come naturally to some, there are many children whose mastery of picky eating is mainly due to the fine efforts of their parents. Here are three ways you may be making a picky eater at your own dinner table.
- Tell your children they won't like it
A sure way to ensure your child will never try a new food is to introduce it to them with an extra large helping of doubt. And who can blame them? Would you want to try something that you have been told will probably not taste good?
Remember, everyone has their own oppinions on what they enjoy eating. If you give them the opportunity to try something new without first prejudicing them against it, your child may enjoy many things you never dreamed possible. Otherwise, they will not only be limited by their own dislikes, but by yours as well.
- Hide the veggies
I don't know how many times I have read some misguided author write about how to work more vitamins into a child diet by hiding vegtables in cookies, spaghetti, etc. While this may work miracles on a mother's guilty conscience, it won't do anything to help junior learn to eat what's good for him. Children learn to eat a variety of foods by being served a variety of foods, not by being served healthier versions of the same old junk.
- Offer an Alternative
When faced with new and unfamilar foods, many children automatically assume they won't like it. If given a choice between a new casserole and peanut butter and jelly, they will naturally pick the old favorite. However, a single taste may be all it takes to introduce them to a new favorite. And since food preferences can be acquired, repeated introductions to unpopular foods can sometimes result in new favorites over time.
