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Picky by Nature
Satisfying Finicky Tiny Diners
By April E. Clark
The Canned Food Alliance, a group of steelmakers, food processors and expert nutrition and culinary professionals that promote the health and convenience benefits of canned foods, suggests several ways to make mealtime fun for preschoolers.
One idea the organization recommends is prompting kids to rename their favorite dish, as their involvement in meal planning will spark an interest in what's on the family table that night. The group also suggests kids become more involved in mealtime by creating their own placemats for the dinner table that can be laminated at an office supply store. Kids can cut pictures of food out of magazines, use colored construction paper to make fun shapes or draw their own artwork for a dinner table masterpiece.
Canned Food also suggests choosing an alphabet letter before a meal and eating foods that only start with that letter. For example, pick the letter "C" and make a chicken dinner with corn-on-the cob and low-fat chocolate pudding for dessert. From apples to zucchinis, the possibilities are endless.
When it comes to healthy foods, Peterson says Sophie will eat pieces of fruit such as watermelon, cantaloupe and apples without the rind, but ask her if she wants a whole apple and she'll say no. Pediatricians have told Peterson her preschooler's picky behavior goes with the territory of figuring out her food preferences, a normal stage of early childhood development.
"The doctors don't alert us to worry about it because they say she has enough meat on her bones," she says. "It's just concentrating on improving her eating habits. We give her vitamins, and she likes the new gummy bear vitamins, but she absolutely doesn't like the hard vitamins."