Helping Fussy Children Eat Good Food

For any parent with young children it may come as a surprise to know that many fussy eaters are created due to the family food environment, and this can be why it is fueling their fussy eating behaviour.

While many children will have different behavioural tendencies, for example some may prefer meat to pasta or will only eat chicken and French fries. However, when a child rejects every new food on offer with the exception of chicken nuggets and white bread, this is a type of difficult food behaviour that your child has learned.

This form of food behaviour needs to be unlearned if you are ever going to get your child to eat a nutritious diet. When it comes to changing their food behaviour, children are only ever going to eat what is available to them.

So if you don't want your child to eat rubbish, then don't buy it and only include these types of foods on special occasions and treat days.

Healthy parents will have healthy kids and those families that tend to sit down together and eat a home cooked meal consisting of fresh vegetables and meat without the TV on will teach their kids the importance of eating a meal. However, if parents regularly purchase fast food meals and eat in front of the TV, kids will think this is the right way to eat.

Studies have shown that when a meal is cooked at home and eaten at the table with the TV turned off, not only is the meal of a higher nutritional quality but the children will have a much lower body weight and will ultimately function better socially than children who rarely sit with their families and eat.

Children can be sensitive to their parents' desires and if they learn that they can elicit an emotional response to certain types of foods, they will continue to use it in order to not eat certain types of foods. Try not to discuss food choices with your children and instead respond to food complaints by letting them know that this is the only meal on offer. In families where food is limited, food issues are far less common.

By parents taking control of the family's food environment, including regular treats, while keeping the majority of the food in the home healthy, will ensure you have healthy kids with good food habits that they can take with them into adulthood.