What new and interesting ideas for kids food have you got?

Question

My daughter is going through a bit of a fussy eating phase and she is 5 years old. I try to make sure she gets her fruit if she wont eat her veg but I am at a loss. she will eat those potato 'smiley faces' and she eats Dinosaurs (breadcrumbed chickeny things- maybe its turkey) and ham. She will eat strawberries and raspberries and apple cut into peices. I am wondering if you have an idea or recipe I can use to brighten up her lunch so she will have fun with it and WANT to eat it.

Sometimes she wont even try her food. She fills herself up with water and cordial.

I watch out for that and wont let her keep going back for more drinks. I wont let her drink right before a meal.

What can I try?

Pleeease Help.

Answer 1

I agree with Missbean on getting your child involved in the cooking process, but you should never force your child to eat anything at the table. It just becomes a control issue, and children can grow up later developing eating disorders ( which often isn't about food, but control)

As a well known nutritionist once said, " no child ever died from living on Kraft dinner"

Offer her dips with raw veggies. Often it is more the texture of foods that kids don't like, not the taste. Try to partially steam them only, or even healthier, let her eat them raw.

Fruit juice, even %100 is not a good choice. Limit her to one glass after dinner, if she has eaten well that day. She won't starve, eventually she will come around to eating what you make for dinner. Let her know you are not a waitress. Cook for the whole family. She either eats or doesn't. But don't get into a battle of wills with her. Sounds like she would win. Lol

Also Jessica Seinfeld came out with a great book about putting veggies into our kids diets. It was very well received. Might be worth a look.

Good luck..

Answer 2

kids go thru phases so be oatient i have got a 5 yr old and 17 month old and they are both so picky and will not eat veggies but they will if they are in a soup,beef stew or chicken pot pie.but other than that juicy juice has got a juice out that taste like fruit juice but it has got a serving of vegetable in there too.its called jj harvest and my kids will drink that it is 100%juice and not only do they get some fruit serving but some veggie serving to,my kids love it and cant tell a difference.

Answer 3

She is too old for you to put up with her fussy eating habits.  Serve a vegetable at every meal and insist that she eat it.  If she does without a fight, she gets dessert (which doesn't have to be a big deal, a hand full of m&ms or ONE cookie is plenty).  If she refuses to eat it, she gets it at the next meal.  Quit letting her control this.

Encourage positivity in eating by involving her in the process.  Let her pick out something interesting at the grocery story.  Serve them in a kid friendly manner (you'd be surprised what a little ranch dressing will do).  

DON'T try to trick her.  I hear a lot of parents with "tips" for hiding vegetables in cassaroles and other things.  If you do that, and she catches you, she won't trust anything you make anymore, and you will have even more trouble getting her to eat them.

Answer 4

Here's a new and interesting idea for kids' food:  Make them what the grown ups are eating from the very beginning and they'll learn to like a wide variety of foods.   People think kids need special kid food (and it's marketed to us this way), then by the time the kid is 5 they don't know how to eat like a regular human!  My son is 7, has always eaten a wide variety of foods, but has found some things that he just doesn't like, and that's okay (no mushrooms, squash or tuna).  His best friend eats primarily chicken nuggets, hot dogs, pizza and fruit.

So of course all that won't help you now.   If she likes some fruits, maybe she'll also like raw vegetables.  Most kids prefer them raw and crunchy, and it's a big bonus to have some ranch dressing to dip them in.  Try different presentations, for example carrot sticks, carrot disks, thin shredded carrots, etc.  Maybe you can replace the mystery meat dinosaur  nuggets with real chicken you make  yourself.  Just cut it into nugget sized chunks, put on some bread crumbs or Shake-n-bake, and bake them for about 10 minutes.

My son made up a recipe when he was 5.  He wanted to make "police cars" by adding four carrot disk wheels to a piece of chicken and half of a cherry tomato on top as the light.  Maybe you can get your daughter to make some things with her food and then she'll want to eat it.  Dipping sauces are usually popular with kids, too.

Good luck!