PEANUT BLOSSOM

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Do you have a picky eater? {Give them a Daily dose of L’il Critters}

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Lessons from my picky eater | Peanut Blossom

I have always tried to be very honest about the picky eating challenges I face in our family. This year, one of my big resolutions was to feed my family more fruits and vegetables. You can read more about the goal here.

And yet my youngest daughter, 4-year-old Little Pea, continues to keep me on my toes. In the game of who eats the most produce, she consistently chooses to not even play. Today I’m sharing some of the tricks I’ve learned this year:

1. Serve more, not less: This feels so counterintuitive. You know they won’t even touch it, so why put a huge heaping serving on their plate? Think of all the waste! When you put one pea on their plate, it is easy for them to refuse the entire serving and they’ve gotten nothing. If you put a whole huge scoop of peas on their plate, maybe they’ll relent and eat even just one or two. Score! You got the taste across those growing buds.

2. Respect textures: By absolute accident, I discovered that she loves raw, freshly chopped broccoli. This is the same kid that won’t touch a strawberry, but broccoli? Eats it by the bowl full. When I tried to serve it cooked, she cried and had a huge temper tantrum. Now when broccoli is on the menu, I’m sure to just hold aside a portion to be left raw for her. Same is true for carrots–the colder and crunchier the better. If your child doesn’t like a certain veggie, try preparing it a totally different way.

Bonus Point: I think the appeal of the broccoli is that I may have mentioned that they are actually “Fairy Trees” and that Tinkerbell loves them. It’s all in the marketing. . .

Lessons from my picky eater | Peanut Blossom

3. Experiment with random presentations: I recently made a rainbow salad for myself and presented the ingredients to my kids for lunch in a fun way. Little Pea’s favorite ingredient from the salad? Purple cabbage!! I nearly fell off my chair. She even asked for it for snack the next day! You never know what their next favorite might be if you don’t keep trying.

4. Breathe deep and know that this is a phase: I’ve had my share of tear-filled phone calls to the pediatrician–“Can they survive on a diet of 100% goldfish?!”–and I’ve been told by more than one that Yes. This is just a phase. The phase may last longer with some children than others but they will eventually grow out of it. My doctor has encouraged me:

“Don’t give up, keep experimenting, and give them a multi-vitamin.”

Some days are so challenging, that multi-vitamin might be the only thing I feel really good about giving them. I’m so thankful that is the one thing I’ve never had to worry about trying to get them to eat. For years we’ve been giving the kids L’il Critters™ gummy vitamins. They are fruity and sweet and completely easy for the kids to eat. They beg for them every day and it is the one thing I haven’t had to worry about remembering–they do that work for us!

So what’s your trick for improving the nutrition for your picky eaters? 

 

 

 

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  5. I try to make new foods exciting my researching the food’s history and interesting facts with my kids.

    Reply

  12. I cut out different shapes for veges and serve the veges with my healthy dip. I also make Smoothies that are very healthy and get some fruits and veges in my son’s diet!

    Reply

  16. Two tips – I’ve noticed that foods my little one would not normally eat, he happily devours when grown in our garden. Second, don’t give up – keep trying a food. Chances are they will eventually love it!

    Reply

  19. My daughter is more likely to try a new fruit or vegetable if she gets to have a sneak preview taste while DH and I are prepping a meal. DS likes to know what textures and flavors to expect. After DH told him raw radish was crunchy and a little spicy, he started requesting it.

    Reply

  20. Fortunately mine are both big veggie and fruit eaters. The make a spaghetti noodle now that is full of veggies and the kids dont know it. We use that now.

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  21. Score, Tiffany! Yay that she’s coming over to the side of fruits and vegetables, slowly, one by one, but coming nevertheless! I totally relate, as you know, to this problem. My littlest came out of the womb uninterested in eating, and it never changed. She’s going to be six in two weeks and we’ve made progress leaps and BOUNDS. I do disagree a bit that “oh, this is just a phase….” I think that’s why I know adults who eat fried chicken and pizza and have never tasted a tomato, because they didn’t like how it looked. I think there are children who are born naturally curious with their taste buds, and children who aren’t. Mine weren’t, and it was NOT because I didn’t expose them. So we had to force it some.

    What I eventually got down to with my lady was that I put on her plate reasonable portions for her, and I expected her to eat it. She stayed at the table until she did. There were some battles, where VERY IMPORTANTLY I stayed calm. No anger, no frustration, UBER calm. And let her know, this wasn’t something we were gonna negotiate. It didn’t go away overnight, but we’ve made SUCH progress. We rarely fight at meals. Some meals take longer than others, because they drag it out if they don’t enjoy it. But we don’t have fits and that is awesome.

    I’ve always heard of a “no thank you” bite, where the child must taste everything. Or three no thank you bites. Perhaps that works for some.

    But what I’ve found is that “it takes 10-20 times of trying something until they like it” is SOOOOOO true. SO very true. I’ve not given up, and now they both eat most things. Little Buddy gets a pass on brussel sprouts. We tried and tried, and I know they have a strong flavor many dislike. So that’s his automatic by food. She has some texture issues with soggy-ish foods, so she no longer has to eat cooked zucchini, sweet potatoes, and she can’t handle mashed potatoes. And that’s okay. But they had to earn those through trying things.

    It makes me so sad that with all the amazing flavors God has given us in foods, so many stick to the same old things and never try all there is to eat. Especially today when SUCH variety exists for us at our finger tips all year long.

    Reply

  27. I like to try new fruits and veggies as often as I can. I like to keep they’re plates colorful and tell them how good lunch is going to be or dinner etc… I also do daily vitamins.

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  30. I’ve started offering a bigger variety for my kids, as well as making things for myself and keeping them as “my special treat” and making it a big deal to “let them share” it with me. Sometimes it works out for me and sometimes it doesn’t.

    Reply

  32. Grow food together, pick out food together at the market or farmers market. Offer a variety of healthy choices. Set a good example by trying new things and making healthy choices yourself.

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  34. I have cookbooks like The Sneaky Chef, and do sneak in puree in all kinds of things! Also, I try to make up small individual size healthy snacks and have them in the refrigerator, etc. I plan ahead and every dish I give pause before making it as to how to make it more nutritious and add ins of veggies or fruits/

    Reply

  39. My parents used to ask us to at least try two bites of something we haven’t tried before, before considering it “gross”. Most of the time, we liked it…to this day, I’m all about getting my veggies in, and I appreciate my parents for making us try new things!

    Reply

  40. “You don’t have to like it, but you do have to try it!” They always end up surprising themselves that yes, they do like it!

    Reply

  41. My daughter loves stories (especially anything princess). I pick or makeup a good story and tell her a little bit after each bite she takes. It totally takes her mind off of it. Her food magically disappears.

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  45. I include a lot of freshly chopped fruit and vegetables into their diets and offer water throughout the day

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  59. I try to introduce the same food multiple times because it takes more than one try for them to like something.

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  61. I sometimes have to sneak veggies into what I’m cooking or add them to casseroles and stuff, they usually won’t just eat plain vegetables.

    cshell090869 at aol dot com

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  63. My daughter was a picky eater, so I stuck with the veggies she liked and didn’t force her to eat ones she didn’;t. I would sometimes offer a second “new” veggie and the rule was two bites then it was up to her.

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  64. I dont have kids but I was a picky eater as a child. Mom always kept fresh fruit around as snacks and dessert and kept junk food out of the house.

    Reply

  65. A trick that works with my kids is to pair food they “don’t like” with food they love, when they combine their food together they end up eating everything

    Reply

  72. I am blessed with a very non-picky preschooler who loves his veggies of all color, but we started very young with the veggies and not so much fruit. So maybe that helped.

    Reply

  74. My children are all adults now but I was incredibly lucky that they weren’t picky eaters. My oldest daughter did have an issue with certain textures and I couldn’t force her to eat those items because it would literally make her nauseous. But they all have become great cooks and have passed on the love of good food to their children. In fact, one of my grandson’s friends said “He will always be my friend because he cooks for me”

    Reply

  82. I like to slice apples and oranges which usually appeals to my picky eater

    tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

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