Our caterers Zebedees suggest the following tips for fussy eaters:
- Lead by example – eat the same foods as your child and make a fuss of how delicious they taste (even if broccoli isn’t your favourite!) Chances are they will observe what the ‘grown ups’ are eating and want to give it try.
- Positive affirmations – encourage and celebrate trying new foods and being experimental. Try not to feel disheartened if the food is rejected, keep offering the ‘trickier’ foods in small amounts regularly, or they will never learn to like them.
- If a meal is refused, simply pop it in the fridge and try again later. There can be many reasons a child doesn’t want to eat. Don’t force a child to eat a particular food or it may instil a negative relationship with that food or future meal times.
- Involve your child in the kitchen and make food fun! Cook together, giving them suitable jobs such as sprinkling cheese, helping to measure, setting the table, and give them the choice to pick from say, two healthy colourful foods to include in their meal.
