Do you have a picky eater in your house? Some days I used to think that my children would waste away to nothing. But I refuse to be a short order cook or to serve them food that isn’t nutritionally balanced. So, here are more tricks and tips that have worked for my family and the family of some of my mom friends. Hopefully there is something in here that you can use if you have a picky toddler.
Rabbit Wants His Carrot
In the last post, I talked about how having Wall-E plate really helped get dinner devoured by my little ones. It is currently my kid’s favorite character. Well, the Wall-E movie comes with a few animate shorts by Pixar. One of them is called Presto, and it is about a Rabbit who wants his carrot versus a magician who wants to put on a show. My youngest loves telling us about how the rabbit wants his carrot because he is hungry.
When I serve carrots, I remind him of how that rabbit loved carrots, and he happily chows down. See if there are other characters that you can associate with different food items.
Going Fancy
Try serving standard fare as appetizers. A friend of mine found that if she cut up any kind of food and placed it on a toothpick or in a tiny paper muffin cup that her daughter would eat it. Provide a dipping sauce if you need more enticement. Ranch dressing goes well with raw vegetables, while honey or mustard pairs nicely with chicken. I don’t recommend peas for the toothpick treatment, though.
Cheese Please
Cheese is the lifesaver in my house. I put it between layers of meat loaf, on top of lentils and rice, shredded into tomato soup, grated over vegetables, etc. Get good fresh cheese that isn’t too stinky and let the kids help you grate it (have little hands cover the top of your hand to protect them from the grater). Cheddar and parmesan are good choices.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right.
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