My granddaughter Maia was here yesterday for brunch. She has always been a finicky eater but has now graduated from finicky to down right stubborn! Her new thing is turning her head away, smiling sweetly, taking her food and feeding the dog. This is followed by a very loud, lovely laugh. Unfortunately we sometimes need to trick our toddler into eating.
We all know the old adage of tricking them into eating their veggies but in Maia’s case she needs to be tricked into eating everything! Here are a few tried and true tricks to get your toddler to eat:
1) The numbers game – line up all food ( a small amount at a time) and count down as each piece of vegetable, fruit, meat or any food is picked up and eaten.
2) Show your toddler 2 different foods and let him choose which one he would like to eat. Maybe just a taste at first if it is a new food.
3) Give your child his own plate, cutlery and cup. Make sure he knows that it is there only at meal time and will be taken away when the meal is over. This will become a special place setting, something to look forward to.
4) Play at the supermarket the “I spy” game. Let your child find the carrots and then put them in the cart all by himself. Then when preparing dinner, show and remind him that he got the carrots all by himself.
5)As your child gets older let him help prepare the food. Nothing ever tastes as good as self prepared meals!
6) If you want to get really creative have a picnic every now and then on the floor. Put down an old blanket, bring out the plastic plates and have fun eating!!!
7) Make faces out of food and then have your child eat the eyes, nose, mouth etc…..most of all have fun!
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