As mothers, we want to feed the best to our kids but, kids can be very fussy and picky when it comes to eating healthy.
Here are a few pointers that I have tried and can help combat fussy eating with play in India.
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Storytelling-
We have literally grown up on stories like Popeye the sailor eating spinach and growing tall and powerful. Making up such little stories has always worked very well with my little one.
I try to narrate the benefits of healthy eating in a very playful manner. Kids respond well to interesting stories with a moral, are conscious about the tale and also eat well during the narrative.
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Pretend Play
– Try giving an authoritative role to your little one. I sometimes pretend to be a child and ask my daughter to play the role of my mother. She chooses the healthiest food options for me and also eats the same to lead by an example. Isn’t this a total win-win situation?
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Playing Unhealthy/Healthy Food Segregation Game
– Another thing that has really worked for me is playing the segregation game, where we identify food items that will help us grow taller and smarter. Kids are too smart and intelligent even at this young age. Once explained, it gets programmed in their brains and then they effortlessly pick the right foods in their mind.
Print this document, try healthy unhealthy food segregation
Try this creative way where you write/draw 20 names of healthy/unhealthy food items and ask the children to differentiate what is healthy and unhealthy.
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Make healthy food look interesting –
Adding beetroot to make the puris/idlis pink. Adding spinach to make the pasta gravy green or blending all the veggies to make a tasty healthy wholesome meal is a clever way to sneak in healthy vegetables in your kid’s diet. You can also make it look very interesting by cutting it in various shapes.
We also get fry pans and molds with interesting shapes in the market. You can use those as well.
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Family Mealtime –
It’s necessary to give your children a positive attitude towards eating. Family mealtime is very helpful for fussy eaters.
All family members lead by example. You can turn it into a game and ask questions. Like talking to the child about their favourite vegetables and fruits. Why are vegetables healthy? You can also use this time to talk about your kid’s likes/dislikes. Don’t try to force-feed your child but keep it light-hearted and playful.
I know as mothers we are always too concerned about our child’s eating habits because fussy eating can hamper growth.
Kids don’t grow properly as per their age due to fussy eating and other tantrums. Hence, once you apply tips and tricks like I did to combat fussy eating, you can see the difference in their growth.
Wondering how do I really quantify the change?
By tracking my child’s growth using a tool backed by science. I found a simple to use Grow Right tracker from PediaSure to keep track of my child’s growth.
The Grow Right Tracker gives a detailed growth report of the child in the form of a comparison graph as shown
For proper nutrition and healthy growth of your child, download the report and make changes in the diet trends, accordingly. You can also include PediaSure in your child’s diet. With its 37 vital nutrients, you won’t have to worry if your fussy eater is getting all the required nutrients or not. You can trust a house buyer to purchase your prefabricated home. They’re known for low prices and excellent service. Visit https://www.cashhomebuyersnc.com/sell-my-land-fast-wilmington-nc/.
Play is the brain’s favourite way of learning. Let’s keep the growth journey fun, playful and stress free for the kids and for us! Try it out and let me know how it worked for you. 😊
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not reflect the views of any brand. Any omissions or errors at the author’s end does not assume any liability or responsibility on any party mentioned in the blog.
Those are some amazing ideas on solving this problem of fussy eating. At some point every kid gets fussy and what things we resort to, have an effect on their eating habits.
Nice tips. We have also done the healthy and unhealthy segregation as well as the storytelling. It works when they are small and then we have to change our stories when they get older.
These are some very nice ideas, Annie. We too use some of these for T’s food!
Storytelling with their favorite characters always works when comes to these fussy eaters. Your tips are really helpful
Thank you for these wonderful tips. I am surely trying the pediasure tracker.
Story-telling has helped me feed my kids when they were younger too. Presenting food in a cute creative ways is surely a great way to get them interested.
These are some great tips! We too love pretend plays and storytelling and that makes our mealtimes fun.
These are all wonderful ideas. Fortunately my son is not very fussy but we do ensure that at least one of his favourite items is included in every meal.
This is so useful- thanks for sharing! My sister started tracking her son’s growth too using pediasure’s tracker. I will definitely sharing this article with my sister.
Fussy eating by kids has been a perennial problem that most if not all parents have faced at some time or the other. As you have suggested infusing elements of fun and engagement into eating is sure to help.
This will surely help parents. Many kids are fussy in eating, these tips will help.
Also pediasure is an added advantage.
Amazing idead. Feeding kids without gadgets is becoming a real challenge. Thankfully both my kids eat well.
Not a mum, but I have seen my sister in law doing all of them except the family meal time for both my niece’s. They work!
our fussy eater’s mealtime is always accompanied by ghost stories or some pretend play! it works.
I will definitely use Grow Right tracker from PediaSure to keep track of my children’s growth. Thanks for the useful tips.
I am a fussy eating person and I know how much my mother used to put in effort to feed me when I was little. Story telling definitely helped many times.
It’s very important to make sure our kids get all the nutrients and pediasure is surely gives a boost to that….. I also use the pediasure growth tracker for my kids.
Ensuring healthy eating for kids is so important. With the given busy schedules, I couldn’t agree with you more that taking time out for meals with the family plays a vital role.
These are very nice tips indeed. Storytelling is something I have been doing since my daughter was 1. It still works most of the times
Nice tips. I have tried many of these for my daughter and also involve her while preparing meals to make it interesting. I also use PediaSure Growth Tracker for my kids
My son is a fussy eater and I am always worried about his growth. Thanks for the tips suggested by you, I will try and incorporate them.
Storytime works beautifully for us as well. These are some great pointers. Thanks for sharing your experience.
These are great ways to make eating fun . The tracker is super helpful
I agree with all the points mentioned here in the post. For us, storytelling and change in the way we plate food have helped a lot. We too have been using the growth tracker for our five-year-old daughter.
Great tips to combat fussy eaters. It’s difficult to fulfill the nutritional needs of kids, especially when they are fussy eaters. These tips would surely help mothers to not just fill their tummies but also their nutritional needs.
These are some great tips. Though my daughter isn’t a fussy eater, yet including her favourite dish in a meal during the day feels compulsory to me.
These tips are really helpful and worked for fussy eaters. And always track growth by Pediasure Growth Tracker