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Tiny Bites, Big Nutritional Needs
Exploring a Toddler's Dietary Requirements
By Katherine Bontrager
(Holt Paperbacks, 2002), says that the biggest problem with children's eating habits comes from making the dinner table a battleground.
"Often when parents stop pushing, the child starts eating," Somer says. "The trick is to prepare and offer a wide variety of nutritious foods and let the child decide how much of what. That doesn't mean you should take your child's eating habits lightly, especially since research shows children's eating habits in general are getting worse."
Somer says the first basic rule for parents is this: It is your job to offer only healthy foods. It is your child's job to choose which of those foods he/she decides to eat. "Kids often turn up noses at anything new," she says. "Keep offering the food, but don't force the child to eat it. Just because your daughter says she doesn't like green beans today doesn't mean she won't like them next week, next month or next year."
"Research consistently shows that a child's preference for a food is learned through repeated exposure to a food," Sandon says. "So if you serve French fries and chicken strips every night, this is what the child comes to prefer. Parents must have patience. The role of the parent is to make healthy foods available and accessible for the child as well as model healthy food habits. The child's role is to choose what and how much to eat of the food. But be careful not to use food as a reward or punishment."
Other weapons in your arsenal? Toddlers in households with structured meal times and family meals are more likely to eat a wider variety of foods including more fruits and vgetables, Sandon says. And monkey see, monkey do. You need to set a good example.