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ADVICE RATING

4.57 (Highly recommend) from 12 votes (757 Visits)

Making eating just a little more fun

(November 2006) (rank 58th)

We are having some troubles in Toddlerville these days. Ethan just doesn't seem to want to eat all the healthy things he should eat. We have a few tricks up our sleeves and they seem to be working.

Give food in a non-traditional way. When jenlemen
was over the other night, she gave Ethan some blueberries in a cup. He spent the better part of the evening "drinking" the blueberries. He thought this was hilariously fun because he usually drinks his milk or water from a cup. This gave him so much entertainment and he managed to eat lots of healthy blueberries too.
Allow for a little adventure. Ethan then poured the cup of blueberries into the "trunk" of the car he was driving around. Luckily the trunk was a clean place for his food and he had his snacks on the go. He then asked for some crackers to push around in the back of his dump truck. I have noticed that he eats a lot more when he is given a little freedom. We do put the dog outside though because otherwise we aren't exactly sure WHO is eating so healthy.
Don't be afraid of the mess. I started to let Ethan peel his own bananas. Now that's nutrition for him and entertainment for anyone watching. He feels autonomy and messy, a great combination that normally results in his eating an entire banana.

This may violate the recommendation that your child should only eat food at the table, but sometimes it's better to sacrifice decorum knowing that your fussy eater is actually eating. What kind of things to you do to get your kids to eat the things they need to eat?

Any contributed content above is the subjective opinion of that member or external author, and not of Minti.com Pty Ltd. If you are searching for health related advice we strongly suggest you seek professional medical support. View our Terms of Service for more details.

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ADVICE RATING

4.57 (Highly recommend) from 12 votes

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	4.50 (Excellent) \| November 2006 \| sweezie

mine mine mine

I thought I was the only one who served food in the back of a matchbox car dump truck! Another little strategy we use at our house is to capitalize on our 3 year old's natural territorialism. If his attention seems to be wavering from his food I ask "can mommy eat your asparagus?" That often brings him fresh motivation to gobble it up. Occasionally it back fires, but then he sees mommy or daddy honestly enjoying a vegetable. We also capitalize on his desire to be like daddy who uses pepper on his veggies. If he gets to pepper his veggies, he seems to take more ownership of them.

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	5.00 (Excellent) \| November 2006 \| Kristen

mine mine mine

this is brilliant and we do it too. Our ploy is "you can't have it, it's dad's" and suddenly it is the MOST INTERESTING food on the table. What are we supposed to do when they get smarter????

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	5.00 (Excellent) \| November 2006 \| mrsbrown4701

New Names for foods

We renamed some foods to make them sound more appealing....
YYou can name them to be relevant to what your kids are into.... I have 2 boys...

we eat dinosaur trees (brochilli) and fluffy clouds (mashed potato) and golden treasures (corn kernels) ... there are more I just can't think of them right now...
Oh my kid refused to eat spaghetti bolegneise, but liked noodles and meat pies, so spaghetti bog is now called noodles and pie meat.
I will get back to you with others.... cya

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	5.00 (Excellent) \| November 2006 \| Kristen

New Names for foods

this is a great idea too. He's a little young to use the creative names to confuse him but I am guessing in about 6 months this will work like a charm. I love the idea.

Reply

	November 2006 \| mrsbrown4701

New Names for foods

There is actually a good story book on this topic....
It is a "Charlie and Lola" book by Lauren Child (aptly named don't you think?) called "I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato"... it has some good names for common foods and a good approach to it as well. Kind of based on the territorial type angle mentioned above I guess.
I have seen it in the book club brochures coming thru from both kindy and school, and also in Book Stores...

Charlie and Lola cover a few other good topics too, and I recommend the books (and DVDs or ABCkids programs when they are on).

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	5.00 (Excellent) \| November 2006 \| rkcrtbrown

Great advice

i do that also. i have given snacks in a cup or something just different from the norm. i have started giving my daughter (almost three) a regular dinner plate (like the adults eat on) and it seems to help. We often have a tea party at the kids play table and have snack there too.

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	November 2006 \| Kristen

Great advice

I just learned the dinner plate trick a week ago. Ethan would eat everything under the sun if it first came from his father's plate. I had been giving him a smaller plate. Once I gave him the bigger plate, he seemed to do better. That and I had to put everything in the exact same place as it was on his father's plate. This is getting slightly high maintenance. LOL. Thanks for sharing what works for you.

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	November 2006 \| mrsbrown4701

Big Plates

I have found big plates and plates with separate compartments are often popular, as alot of kids don't like their different foods touching each other.
The compartment plates or containers are also useful if you are having trouble getting your kids to eat balanced meals...

I have been known to serve a portion steak casserole (with gravy made from vegetable puree), with a cut up apple and half a Vegemite sandwich and hot potatoes all in their separate compartments for one meal... just so they are getting a variety of nutrition! and fibre!

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	4.26 (Good) \| November 2006 \| Chrysalis

Great advice

We dont have a dining table - there is no room for it. We have a computer desk instead *grin* there's priorities for you.

As a child i always LOATHED eating at the table and I ate very little.

Our kids usually sit on the mat in the lounge, or at a little table in there, or in the case of DD13 watching tv, lol.

Meals are not a big deal here- DH and I usually sit at the 'breakfast bar'and chat ( we dont see each other much due to work) - or we sit on the sofa together if there is a good program on tv.
Everyone gets served the same with instructions to leave what they dont like.
Those who are still hungry usually have Weet-bix for supper.
Often we eat breakfast outside on the front porch- or we have a table out the back where we regularly all go and have barbeque tea (the kids love that)

Reply

	November 2006 \| Kristen

Great advice

Sometimes we put him at the dinner table and then go eat in front of the tv. Now THAT is bad. He doesn't seem to mind as he is always doing his own thing anyway. We have tried to work on eating together but when you have space issues, that does make it all the more complicated.

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	4.00 (Good) \| November 2006 \| Jessgore

Who said kids need to eat at the kitchen table

I bet my husband is waiting for the day my son can ballance a plate on his knees so they can sit in front of the telly watching some man movie together...

Being a little different at meal times does tend to spice things up a bit... I like the blueberry in the cup idea, although that is a mess I would be afraid, other then that, the dog takes care of any other mess.. But no carrots... :)

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	5.00 (Excellent) \| November 2006 \| Kristen

Who said kids need to eat at the kitchen table

I neglected to mention that we have all hardwood floors in our house so the blueberry thing is not as dramatic as it sounds. No carpets to ruin. I guess there could be a problem with the couch but I notice that the dog is VERY QUICK to make sure that nothing is falling far from Ethan. LOL.

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	5.00 (Excellent) \| November 2006 \| ssedgar

eating

we have fun days too, i have let Jacob feed himself since he could, he makes a right mess but he is learing, how to get the food into his mouth and now is learning about forks and spoons, he thinks he is soo big and love the freedom

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	November 2006 \| Kristen

eating

I get a little cranky about the mess myself but I just keep thinking that eventually they will become less messy or at least be able to clean up after themselves. Giving the fork and spoon does help at our house too because there seems to be some excitement about being "grown up" then. I know Ethan would rather have a knife, but I'm trying to avoid that. LOL.

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	November 2006 \| chickenlicken

eating

sounds good. Ill try this on my kids.

Reply

	November 2006 \| Kristen

eating

hope it helps you.

Reply

Related keywords: autonomy, blueberries, eating, fun, healthy, jenlemen, nutrition, snacks


Any contributed content above is the subjective opinion of that member or external author, and not of Minti.com Pty Ltd. If you are searching for health related advice we strongly suggest you seek professional medical support. View our Terms of Service for more details.

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