Whether you need to encourage your child to look after their teeth or simply help them overcome their picky eating habits, expanding their palate is essential. But, you know as well as anyone else how stubborn kids can be, so where can you begin? Here are five ideas to consider that should help your child expand their eating horizons.
Make Their Favourites At Home
Many kids are picky eaters because they know there are other foods like chicken nuggets and pizza. They love these foods, so why would they want anything else? You know that eating these every day is not sustainable, but you can still make healthier versions of them at home. Not only will this save money, but it also gives you the chance to introduce different flavours and ingredients that could help your kids improve their picky eating habits.
Get Them Involved
Every parent would love it if their kids asked about helping in the kitchen when preparing dinner, but this isn’t always possible, especially for younger kids. Still, you can find jobs for them to do, whether handing you utensils or getting plates or bowls out of the cupboard. If they are older, you can show them how to prepare certain foods, particularly ones they think they don’t like so they can see that it is not as traumatising as they believe.
Don’t Make It A Big Deal
You might not be happy your child is a picky eater, but that doesn’t mean you should make such a big deal about it when they finally eat some fruit or a vegetable. This attitude will only reinforce their opinion that what they are doing is strange, and they are more likely to return to their old habits. Instead, embrace their new eating habits and talk to them about other ways to prepare these foods to give them more options to explore.
Let Them Choose
You can also give your kids the choice–or at least the illusion of choice–to encourage them to eat better. If they really want pizza, ask them what vegetables they want to put on top, such as roasted red peppers, mushrooms, or onions.
It’s important to normalise these options so they become more familiar with them. They can still enjoy their favourites, but they also come with healthy ingredients and options that show them they are not as bad as they think.
Make Something Fun
Focusing on healthy options all the time is bound to get tiresome for both of you, so you can also think about making fun meals like desserts. Learning how to make pumpkin pie or cheesecake is a great way to expand your child’s palate as they won’t associate it with healthy eating the same way they would a side salad. Desserts are always fun, and seeing how you prepare them (and even getting involved) will make them appreciate the dish even more.
Picky
Many kids are picky eaters but if you want them to improve their palate and improve their diet, these tips should help them expand their horizons and show them that some foods are not as gross or scary as they thought.
This is a collaborative post.