Children do not want to eat anything other than chicken nuggets or sausages? Or, your little one prefers to play rather than eat rice? Although troublesome and sometimes annoying, picky food is a reasonable phase in the child's growth and development. This habit can actually disappear over time, especially if the parents support.
You as a parent still need to ensure that your nutritional intake is fulfilled at all times. Even with its growth, most children will start to like a more diverse food menu. They will gradually realize how important variations in food and nutrition are. While waiting for that moment to arrive, in addition to being patient, you can try the following 10 ways to overcome the problem of difficult-to-eat children because they are picky about food.
Tips to overcome difficult to eat children because of picky foods
Appreciate the child's desire to eat (or not eat)
Do not force children to eat if they are not hungry. There are parents who like to force their children to eat something or wash their own dishes. This can only create an atmosphere of tension and trigger mouth-to-mouth when eating at the dinner table.
The coercion that you do continuously makes children associate eating activities with anxiety and frustration. Children also tend to overlook their own satiety and hunger.
Serve small portions of food to avoid overfed children. Give them the opportunity to add their own portion.
Obey a regular eating schedule
Make a regular eating schedule, for example serving heavy meals and snacks at the same time every day. If you let your child drink juice, milk, or eat snacks throughout the day, this can reduce appetite when meals arrive.
Be patient with the new menu
If you present a serving of new foods at the dinner table, usually children will touch or smell food first. After tasting, they might put the food back on the plate. Usually for this, children need a process, before finally getting used to and wanting a new food menu.
You need to encourage your child to pay more attention to the color, shape, aroma, and texture of food than just taste the food itself. It would be better if you present a new menu along with a menu of your child's favorite foods.
Make eating as fun activities
Serve broccoli and other vegetables with your favorite sauce or seasoning. To be more interesting, cut the food into various shapes using cake mold. Also offer a breakfast menu to serve as dinner. In addition, you can try to serve a variety of foods in bright colors.
Invite children to participate in preparing food
If your child is a hobby of picking food, try to involve your child in activities related to family meals. For example, ask them to shop at the market or to the supermarket. Ask your child for help in choosing fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods when shopping together. Avoid buying something that you think is not good for children's consumption. When you get home, do the same thing by involving the child to wash vegetables, stir the dough, or set the dining table.
Use your creativity in cooking
To anticipate the problem of children who have difficulty eating because the menu they don't like, you have to be creative. For example, try adding chopped broccoli or green peppers in spaghetti sauce, or sprinkle fruit slices over a bowl of cereal, or mix zucchini and grated carrots into porridge and soup.
It's good to do this so that your child likes a variety of healthy foods that contain good nutrition, even though your child actually doesn't like certain foods, such as vegetables or fruit.
Stay away from things that interfere with meal time
Turn off the TV and other electronic devices while eating. This will help children focus more on food. Keep in mind that TV ads may also encourage children's desire to eat sweet foods or foods that are less nutritious.