Picking and choosing food is quite a common practice amongst children – especially toddlers . They just don’t trust themselves to try new types of food, which can drive some parents round the bend!
Eating healthily is quite vital in order to avoid problems further down the line. In as much as this may seem like an uphill struggle with your child in the moment, there are ways you can work with your child to see if he/ her would be willing to consider more options in their diet. Sometimes, it might be a case of offering an option a number of times to your child before they decide to either try it out of curiosity or just to get you out of their hair!
Either way, the outcome might be more favourable than you imagined. So as a parent, you owe it to yourself to hang in there, as you never know.
Sometimes, they go through phases at various stages of their growth, where they like a particular cereal (for example), but opt for another and go completely off the former.
Children love fun and exciting things, so nothing stops you as a parent, bringing all that fun and interest to their plate.
Make the items on the plate colourful - apples, carrots, grapes etc Have your child try different food types within the different colour groups to see which ones they like. Discuss the different types of food and their nutritional benefits (which, by the way, wouldn’t be a big crime if you exaggerated a bit) so they are able to make more informed decisions and pick healthier options.
Let them know that it is important to eat the right types of food that will enable them grow and be strong etc.
Don’t forget – you are your child’s role model, so they may simply be eating what they see you eat or worse still, you might be feeding them on only the things you eat or like. Do not restrict your child to just the things you like as that would be limiting their diet and there might be other things out there that your child likes.
As long as your child doesn’t look sick and emaciated, they should be ok. Just keep an eye on what they eat over the course of the day. Keep an eye on their weight and growth progress and if you have any concerns, pay your GP a visit.
