Have fussy children?  It’s very common.  Creating a game may help expose your child to different foods.  The game we have came up with at our house is ” tasting one new food a day”.  We just started this recently with our son (3 1/2) who is quite a picky eater.  If it is not chicken fingers, fish sticks, crackers and cheese, bread with butter or cheerios and milk – you can almost forget him trying it.

This motivated us to start this new game because all kids love to play games.  So the game simply consists of creating a diary for each day and having your son or daughter taste a new food that they have never tasted before.  Have your child create a smiley face or a sad face beside each daily entry if they liked the food or not.  At the end of each week count the number or happy faces.  If the number of happy faces is 5 or greater than the child gets to eat his or her favorite meal.  Children are more likely to try new foods with this reward like atmosphere and once it becomes a normal activity you will hopefully see the diary go away and this become a natural occurence for your child.

This will hopefully allow them to discover new foods they actually like and create a new bond with your children and food.  Medical studies have shown that kids who develop healthy eating habits tend to be more attentive at school and have more energy while learning whether in academics or athletics.

So I suggest you try this technique or by all means let us know who if you have any other new or creative ways to get your children to try new foods.  I welcome your ideas and comments as I am sure this is a very common problem for many parents out there.

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Exposing Kids to New Flavors

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