How to Make Picky Eaters Love Food: Mother’s Cooking Tips

Children who are picky eaters often have various reasons such as weak physical condition, unsuitable food, excessive improper nutrition, improper meal arrangement, nutrient imbalance, weak intestines, psychological aversion to parents’ cooking… Therefore, to “treat” picky eaters, it is necessary to collaborate with nutrition and health experts to eliminate unrelated factors, then focus on the main causes. In addition, in daily cooking, parents can use some small tips to stimulate and improve their child’s appetite:

The “new wine in old bottles” strategy, turning “must eat” into “can eat”

There are many creative ways that parents use to solve the psychological problems of young children. Many children see eating as something that must be done. However, there are some dishes that they like but are not allowed to eat. Instead of arranging all the food on a plate as usual, you can try a new way of eating, such as putting soup in a cup as if drinking water. Instead of slicing fruits into pieces, blend them into ice cream. If the child doesn’t like to eat boiled vegetables, mix them with steamed cake batter. Instead of putting rice in a bowl, shape it into fun shapes for the child…

Turn meals into skewers

When the food is in a bowl or plate, the child sees a lot and has to pick it up, hold it multiple times, and they think they have to eat a lot. But when the food is skewered, children usually like it more. First of all, when skewered, the child only needs to hold one skewer and eat the whole portion, eat continuously without realizing that it is a lot. Moreover, the feeling of skewering is new and makes children more interested, especially for children who have attended kindergarten or primary school, where the culture of skewering influences their minds.

Enhance the flavor of the food

Parents should balance between providing healthy food for children similar to adults and catering to their taste preferences that are suitable for their generation. Nowadays, children have different taste preferences and are exposed to foreign food cultures. Therefore, you cannot force children to eat plain food according to your own preferences. You have to balance between these two feeding methods. Therefore, you can add homemade fried or sweet dishes to make the food more appealing, and serve it with vegetables and fruits. Many children may eat a lot of skewered food but cannot eat a spoonful of rice and a piece of boiled vegetables. Although you worry about your child’s unhealthy diet, if your child is a picky eater, you need to balance and combine both methods.

Place small amounts of food in a large dish

When parents need to lose weight or prevent the child from becoming overweight, they should put the food in a small bowl to make it look full and more. But with picky eaters, you should put the food in a large plate so that the child sees less, doesn’t feel overwhelmed by the amount of food, and doesn’t feel scared.

Decorate the food attractively

This is a challenge for many mothers. But nowadays, there are many tools to support you in this task, such as lunch box molds, cute fruit cutting knives… Therefore, you can make more eye-catching dishes. Or you can search for some instructions on the Internet, which will make children more interested.

Invite the child to join in the kitchen

Inviting the child to play in the kitchen, have fun with vegetables and fruits, and share stories related to the food will make the child more interested in eating when they contribute to the cooking process. Therefore, parents should not say that cooking is only for adults. Let the child pick vegetables, cook together, and talk about their uses, express gratitude to them, so that the child gradually appreciates the food.