I consider myself very lucky on this one since my children always ate what I placed in front of them. I love to introduce a wide variety of foods so they can decide on their own as to whether they like it or not. Children's tastes always change, so even if two days prior they told me they didn't like whatever it was, I always put it on their plate anyway. They had to try it. Whether they ate it or not was a different story. JThe situation that presented itself to me was when my two older children were not so much picky but had a hard time finishing their meals. I'm not sure how I stumbled across the idea but I tried anything that was suggested to me. What is it that kids enjoy the most? Playing. So I had to turn it into a "fun" thing to do. What I would do is place the child's meal in front of them. Tell them that I would close my eyes and they would have to choose an item from their plate and eat it. I would in turn would have to guess which item they chose to eat. Since I had two children, we had to take turns. They enjoyed it so much that we each took a turn at guessing what it was that the other one ate. I believe I started this when my oldest was around four and today she is nine and she still enjoys playing that game cause now they put a twist on it and add a couple items in their mouthes to see if the other person can figure it out. It worked for me so maybe it will work for you. The other game I would occasionally play was once they had a food on their fork, I would tell them in a jokingly manner "don't eat that" and they would laugh as they were bringing the fork closer to their mouthes and again I would say "no....no don't eat that" they would laugh as they placed it in their mouthes. I would then shake my head and make a silly sound because they did the opposite of what I asked. It was fun.

Learn more about this author, Diane B.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about How to get your picky child to eat?
We want to hear your view. Write now!