Generally speaking, you should decide what your
children eat and not the contrary! But once in a
while, why not give them the chance to choose a
specific dish? They will savour it as a special
occasion.
Perfect the art of concealing certain unpopular
foods with tomato sauce, cheese, white sauce
(very nourishing). You can also mask “difficult”
foods in more attractive forms (fritters, cheese
dishes, home made fruit milkshakes...). When they
have got used to ingredients prepared in this way,
you can then try to serve them alone.
Attractively presented meals will encourage
children to try new foods and make them more
adventurous. Decorate foods with vegetables,
fruit, cheese, pastry or toasted bread cut into
numbers, alphabet letters or animal shapes. If you
are artistic, arrange food to create animal faces or
smiley people from slices of vegetables and fruit.
Even a quick squirt of tomato sauce into a smiley
face will liven up a child's plate.
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Help
form toddlers’ tastes and encourage them to
differentiate flavours by giving them pure foods
(unmixed fruits or vegetable purées).
Rather
than resorting to the very boring “finish your
plate”, encourage children to try everything,
even in small quantities.
Always
ask children to state their preferences. Ask them to
replace “I like” and “I don’t like” with
constructive comments such as “it’s spicy”,
“it’s sweet”, “it’s hot”... You will better
understand their preferences and be able to find a
solution together.
Never
overfill children’s plates but serve small
helpings, even if they have to ask for seconds.
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Focus,
whenever possible, on quality products. It has been
scientifically proven that children, even very
young, will naturally prefer a good product.
(In a school in the UK where all standard canteen
foods were replaced by quality products – farmhouse
chicken, organic vegetables, real mashed potatoes,
etc. – at the end of meals, plates had only 5%
leftovers as compared with 60% previously).
Invite
your children’s friends to lunch and get them to
invite your children. They will see that other
people do not have the same preferences. In someone
else’s home, they will be more tempted to try out
food that they don’t like and what their friends
like.
Don’t offer rewards if they try new foods. They
will interpret it as: “if I’m rewarded, I’m right
not to like it”. |
