Do you have a picky eater?

I can’t tell you how many people ask me what to do with kids that are picky eaters, or how to introduce solids to ensure a child won’t be picky later. It is a complex question that doesn’t have a simple answer. I can pretty much assure you that your child WILL be picky at some point, but that doesn’t mean you have to throw in the towel and serve chicken nuggets every night. Here are some of my best suggestions on how to handle the picky child:

1. If you have a baby, I encourage people to think through how they introduce solids and make it FUN! Start with orange vegetables, which are slightly sweet and make sure that you have a child who consistently eats vegetables, fruit, whole grains and legumes before you introduce addictive carbohydrates like puffs, cheerios, bagels and crackers. On the same note, go through the yummy foods before you experiment with tastes that are often acquired, like the green vegetables. Feel free to mix those green veggies (not before 9 months) with something sweet. Apples, millet and spinach or kale, quinoa and banana.

2. Let your child play with their food. Kids learn through exploration and that can consist of all different things. Food doesn’t have to be scary. Allowing a child to finger paint with food (preferably in a controlled environment, not a 5 star restaurant) allows them to feel the food, and maybe even taste the food by licking their fingers. You have to remember that you KNOW you don’t like certain foods because you know what everything tastes like already. Children don’t have that advantage. As a result, they have a tendency to be skeptical. That’s OK. (Repeat after me, “It is OK if my kid did not eat .”

3. How long did it take you to learn to like beer? Or red wine? Or grapefruits? Personally, I had to learn to like all of those things. Heck, I’m still working on red wine. Remember that next time your child spits out their and claims, “I don’t like that!”.

4. Cook with your kids! Trust me, I *know* it makes things go much more slowly and makes the process a lot messier than if you just do it yourself. However, getting kids involved with their food is an important step in making food more accessible. They are so much more likely to eat something they’ve helped prepare.

5. Make it FUN! I’m a huge advocate for shapes and rainbows. Make owl faces out of their pancakes. Be creative. Kids will literally, eat it up.

6. Set a good example. So many people want their kids to eat their vegetables when they won’t do so themselves. Sit down to a meal with your kids and let them see how much you enjoy your own healthy foods. It might not happen overnight, but, trust me, they’re watching!