How can I get my picky child to enjoy a wider variety of foods?

Picky eaters are going through a normal developmental stage, exerting control over their environment along with concern about trusting the unfamiliar. This often goes along with the “separate compartmented plate” stage, where children don’t like one type of food to touch or mingle with another. Just as research has shown that it takes a number of repeated impressions before advertising convinces an adult consumer to buy, it takes the average child 8-10 presentations of a new food before he or she willingly accepts it.

If your child is otherwise healthy, eating only a few select foods for a little while will not have any adverse effect. So, rather than insist your child eat a food that is being rejected, try some of the following:

• Offer a new food only when your child is hungry and rested.
• Present only one new food at a time.
• Make it fun: a game, a play-filled experience. Cut the food into unusual shapes.
• Serve new foods with favorite foods to increase acceptance.
• Eat the new food yourself; children love to imitate.
• Have your child help to prepare foods. Often they will be more willing to try something when they helped to make it.
• Limit beverages. Picky eaters often fill up on liquids instead.
• Limit snacks to two per day.

Persuading children to eat more fruits and vegetables

You may have been told not to play with your food, but making mealtime playful can mean healthier eating for you and your kids! Here are some creative ways to build more fruits and vegetables into your child's daily diet:

• Top a bowl of whole grain cereal with a smiley face: banana slices for eyes, raisins for nose, peach or apple slice for mouth.
• Create a food collage. You can use broccoli florets for trees, carrots and celery for flowers, cauliflower for clouds, and a yellow squash for a sun. When you're all finished, you can eat your masterpiece!
• Make frozen fruit kabobs for kids using pineapple chunks, bananas, grapes and berries.
• Go food shopping with your children. Take them to the grocery store or Farmers' Market to let them see all the different sizes and colors that fruits and vegetables offer. Let them pick out a new fruit and vegetable to try.
• Try fruit smoothies for a quick healthy breakfast, or afternoon snack.
• Add vegetables and fruits to baked goods – blueberry pancakes, zucchini bread, carrot muffins. It’s easy to add shredded veggies or fruit pieces to almost any baked good.
• All soups, stews, and sauces can have extra veggies added to them. To make them blend in, you can grate them up before adding them to something such as red-sauce.
• Keep lots of fresh fruits and veggies washed, available, and in a place where children know to look when they want a snack. Easy fruits and vegetables to grab and eat on the run include apples, pears, bananas, grapes, figs, carrot and celery sticks, zucchini slices. Add yogurt or a tub of nut butter or tahini for extra protein.