Picky Eaters: Veggie Time!

Helping kids develop healthy eating habits – Part 4

I love sitting down at the dinner table with my family to enjoy a meal. A common occurrence however, is for my youngest son to eat everything but the vegetables on his plate. He will quickly consume the food he ‘likes’ and then do his best to leave the table and play with out finishing his vegetables.

He is very creative in his attempts to get away with this. He will try every excuse from “I don’t feel well”, to “My tummy is full”, to “I will finish later…I promise!”, to completely ignoring us. He will be polite, he will get upset, and eventually he will push almost every button you have, depending on his mood that particular day. If you have a picky eater, you will know exactly what I am talking about.

In order to manage a state of calm during his creative attempts at manipulating his dinner time, my husband and I have used some equally creative diversion tactics. We have opted to making healthy eating a source of fun instead of what can often feel like punishment.

We have conversations about what foods are good for him and what is not, making sure our talks were relevant to a four year old, but we found a few simple tools can often be far more effective. Here is one such example:

 Use a fun system that your child will enjoy. We have a piece of colorful construction paper taped to the fridge, on which I have drawn columns. When Sam eats a piece of fruit, he can select a sticker of his choice and add it to the page. When he eats a vegetable, he can select another sticker.
 Because my son likes fruit, but is not really big on eating his veggies, we offer him larger stickers (that he really likes) for each veggie and smaller ones for the fruit. When he asks for snacks throughout the day, we check the sticker page with him to help him determine what would be the most appropriate snack.
 Note: I encourage variety over quantity, so under each sticker we write the name of the food he ate. That way as he adds to the page, he is aware that he already had one type of veggie or fruit so he must now select a different variety. This gives him a sense control over his food choices, but with the necessary guidance to ensure his choices are appropriate. For example, when he has had a banana and an apple, I may suggest some carrots, cucumber or broccoli. He is kept within choices I approve of, but the actual food he eats is by his own choosing.
 At the point in the day when he has earned at least 7 stickers (min 3-4 veggies), he is allowed to choose a fun activity to do, or he allowed what ever desert we may be having after dinner.

Be creative with your kids and have fun with food. Remember that healthy food can taste great AND be fun-it is all in your perspective and approach. Remember though, for this or any other system to be effective, you must be firm in your commitment to following through on the agreed upon rules. Be sure to explain the rules clearly to your child-in advance- and make sure you do not give in if they have not eaten what was agreed to. This will help them establish genuine healthy eating habits.