I have taken care of over 200 kids (not all at once). Several of them had brought soda and candy bars for breakfast. I said no to that and made oatmeal. They never had oatmeal and refused to eat it.
I told them it was magic oatmeal. Before I dished the oatmeal into bowls, I put a couple of drops of food coloring in the bottom of bowl. I told them that they had to stir their oatmeal once the milk was poured. One had blue oatmeal and another red, green, and yellow. They got so excited they couldn't wait until they got their next bowl of oatmeal. They learned their colors at the same time!
By cj from Minot, ND
I was an extremely picky kid, I admit. I didn't think I liked anything - no vegetables or any strange or new food. I was pretty much meat and potatoes, and sweets, of course. My parents would demand that I eat; forcing me, threatening, even hitting, and withholding desserts if I didn't "clean my plate."
Even the pickiest of eaters will enjoy this fruit and veggie smoothie. Carrots and cucumbers are perfectly blended with apples and pineapple, in this yummy smoothie.
Young children can often be picky about certain foods. However, eating a healthy diet is an important lesson to learn even if it means a few tears are shed. This is a page about 7 year old won't eat healthy food.
I bought a clear glass dinner plate from the $1 store. I set the plate on top of my granddaughter's Strawberry Shortcake placemat. When she eats her food, Strawberry starts to show through.
Does anyone have any suggestions for how to get my seven year old son to eat anything but bread and butter? I have tried everything I can thing of, but nothing works. Unless we give him his bread and butter he won't stop crying. I don't know what to do, it is ripping the family apart. Please help.
By Brooke
Brooke I wouldn't worry too much, but it could be a medical problem. So I would get him checked out. But other than that you have to keep saying no. Why not change your diet so all the kids get equal and make sure there is no bread and butter at the table? Load the plate with food before you put them on the table and don't make him eat instead talk about your day and ask the other kids about their day. He will get sick of crying and just start eating.
We recently moved from the UK to Florida. My son was already a fussy eater but would eat chicken, sausages, fish fingers, pasta shapes in tomato sauce, cereals with milk, bread, and yoghurts. Now here in the US he won't eat anything, except some chips (fries) and a fish stick if we are lucky. If we ask him to try stuff we think he'll like he goes into a panic and makes up his mind he don't like it. How can I get him to try stuff without him going into melt down? It's heart breaking.
By Athers1
I would guess it has more to do with the stress of making such a big move rather than the food itself. Is he adjusting well to life in the US? Maybe sit him down and have a talk about how he's feeling, if you haven't already.
I know when I moved from the US to the UK I was always thrilled to come across some American foods I recognised, even if it wasn't a brand I usually ate! It was a little taste of home. A lot of supermarkets have international sections and you might be lucky enough to find some familiar UK brands that he might like. If not, maybe you could have someone in the UK send off a little care package with some of his favorite sweets or something like that, just something familiar. Good luck!
I can't get my 6 year old to eat anything besides junk. I know if I don't buy it she can't eat it, but she won't eat anything then. She's an only child so it's not like she has a big kid to follow. I eat everything healthy you can think of, but she pays no mind to that. I'm constantly fighting a losing battle. Any ideas?
By CraftyMom from Pasco, FL
Sometimes I have a hard time with my seven year old daughter. If you have it in you to get rid of all the junk, and you think you can endure her complaining, then do it. Eventually a hungry child will eat.
One day my daughter was complaining about everything. She complained about dinner and said she wasn't going to eat it. I sent her to her room. I finished my meal, and cleared our plates (throwing out her food). When she came out later, hungry, I told her too bad. She said she wasn't going to eat, I threw out the food, and that was that. Eventually I told her she could have a carrot. She had to get out the carrot, rinse and peel it, and she ate it. She stopped complaining, because it was that, or go hungry.
A more pleasant approach is to have her help you prepare foods. Helping to fix something will make her more excited to try it. Just this weekend, I had my daughter "help" me fix this fruit salad:
allrecipes.com/
and Texas Caviar:
allrecipes.com/
She cut grapes in half, measured & poured dried cranberries, scooped yogurt into the salad and stirred the salad.
You have to be just as stubborn as your daughter. We just visited the pediatrician about a month ago, and she told us that kids this age 1)aren't always hungry and 2)won't starve themselves. I didn't like being the mean mom and sending her to room without dinner, but she hasn't complained like that again since then. Good luck, and be strong!
Mrs Story has some good advise. Let me just add that it will be best if you break your daughter of this habit now while she is young. I now have 2 daughters (ones a teen) and they are the pickiest eaters. They live with their mother but I have a hard time with them when they visit.
One suggestion I will make is to get her to try a little bit of everything before you give her what she wants. Just a spoonful, and tell her she has to swallow it. She might find other things she likes that way. She absolutely needs to try anything she helps you make. My youngest was making food with her grandmother. They made smoothies. My daughter decided she didn't like them because they had banana in them. The thing is she likes bananas, on there own. But she would not try this ice cream smoothie because of that.
Children are greatly affected by "shapes" of their food. The smaller bow tie pasta is great way to encourage them to eat. Get creative and serve food in different sizes and shapes for those picky eaters!
I have a 5 year old son who has autism and he is a picky eater. He only eats French fries chicken nuggets and pizza from Lil' Caesar's. Can anyone suggest any tips to get him to eat more foods?
I would give him v8 fruit juice and put it in a fruit juice bottle, that should take care of some of the vegetables....buy him his own little cup for it that is special. Buy him a special plate for vegetables, does he like cheese? I would blend a vegetable serving into tomato sauce on his pizza and give him that....also you can give him a small toy every end of the day that he eats vegetables...hope this helps......
With autism my guess is he has come to associate shape and texture with tasty things to eat.
Try making your own chicken nuggets, fries and pizzas using different foods, and package them in the containers he has come to recognize.
For instance:
Fruit pizza; use cream cheese as the sauce and top with fresh sliced fruit.
And home made pizza sauce can be made with all kinds of veges in it. Best to use is minced carrot, zucchini, onion, fresh tomato, but the sky is the limit.
Maybe your home made pizza in a Ceasars box will get his attention.
Not that deep fried is the way to go, but batter fried veges like cauliflower and zucchini may look and taste somewhat like chicken nuggets to him.
Restaurants serve sweet potato fries, which are really easy to bake.
BUT most importantly, keep in mind that try and try again is the motto with any child. Their taste buds change quickly, and often times they will grow out of their "super taster" taste buds. BTW there really is such a thing as a super taster, and it just means that the persons taste buds are highly sensitive.
It puts me in mind of my mom who, when she became a diabetic, had to give up Hershey's chocolate. After not tasting it for a year or so, it was so saltly to her it was no longer appealing.
Good Luck
