Picky Eaters: The Parent’s Perspective

Helping kids develop healthy eating habits.

How do we get our children to understand that eating healthy is good for them when sugary treats taste so yummy?

Children are bombarded daily - via television, radio, grocery store shelves, print ads, and more - with messages about what they should eat. Often those messages are the result of high powered marketing ads that are aimed at making money, not at creating genuinely healthy food for your kids. Children seem to be born as masters at manipulating their parents, and so when this skill is combined with the power of the ads that influence them daily, getting them to eat healthy can be a challenge.

Teaching healthy eating habits is a goal of most parents, but it can be full of challenges and obstacles. I was blessed with 2 amazing children that have taught me a lot about the challenges of dealing with picky eaters. My picky eater, Sam, starts each morning with a couple of bites of breakfast and then promptly moves on to relentless requests for candy. He is masterful to say the least, as are most picky eaters. They seem to be born with their instincts perfectly honed to know exactly how far to push us as parents; they know just when to cry, they know just how many times to ask, and they know just the right time to catch us...in a moment of distraction. You know, the moments when you will say yes to almost anything, without realizing what you just agreed to, because you are so focused on a particular task or deadline, or just desperate for a few moments of peace.

I have had good motivation to be alert to such tactics, as both my children are seriously impacted by some of the seemingly ‘harmless’ ingredients commonly found in junk food. I have spent the last 8 years learning to read labels and trying to gain an understanding of what is really in the foods my kids are eating. Any parent would be put on high alert if their children experienced night terrors as a result of eating red dye and this is exactly what occurred for my family. This personal experience was a blessing in disguise for my family as it put us on a path to healthy eating and has brought us tremendous awareness and benefits. In fact, it contributed to the creation of Bundles of Energy, which has begun opening the door to hundreds of people in transforming both their understanding of, and ability to, make the gentle shift to healthy, whole, natural foods.

My sons continue to educate me daily in how much there is to learn about raising kids and healthy eating. What worked on my older son typically does not work as well with my younger son, and so I am constantly on my toes creating or looking for new ways to keep him on track to eating well.

I want to help other parents out there with picky eaters by creating a series of blogs on my personal experiences. Stay tuned each week as I write about the actual techniques I have learned and developed to create success in dealing with these challenges. I encourage you to write comments to me with regards to your questions, concerns, or personal success stories, as it will be a learning opportunity for all of us.