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Take a dip – children love to “dip” their food. Serve veggies with dressing, fruit with peanut butter, yogurt or cream cheese dip, meat with ketchup or barbeque sauce or honey (do not serve honey to children < 1 year old).
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Shape it up – cut bread, cheese or little sandwiches into fun shapes using small cookie cutters or biscuit cutters.
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Lead by example – it’s hard to convince a child that milk is good for them or broccoli rocks when they don’t see you eating it. You don’t have to eat everything you offer them, but good habits are learned by observation.
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Persistence is the key – don’t force food on your child, but do offer them a variety of healthy foods and don’t get discouraged if they don’t eat it at first. It takes 15 – 20 times of offering a certain food before a child will accept it.
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Take ownership – let your child help prepare the meal (depending on age, of course). Your child will be more likely to try something that they had a hand in preparing.
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Don’t overdo it – remember to use small portions. Not only do children generally eat less, but it looks less daunting to a child when trying something new if there is just a small amount. For example, a toddler’s portion of meat should only be about 2 ounces.
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Have some fun – using fun utensils, plates and cups can encourage a child to eat. Hefty makes a line of plastic ware and paper products called “Zoo Pals” in fun animal designs.
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Nothing like homemade – when possible, make your child’s food so you control the salt, spice and fat content. For example, a great homemade snack mix can be tasty and healthy when you use dried fruit, plain cereal and whole grain Goldfish crackers. This is much better than the pre-packaged snack mix and just as scrumptious.
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Trial and error – don’t be afraid to experiment with textures and cooking methods. Just because your child doesn’t like raw carrot sticks doesn’t mean he will not like cooked carrots; or if your child doesn’t care for scrambled eggs, try a hard boiled egg and serve just the yolk or just the whites. And by all means, don’t withhold a food simply because you don’t like it (I don’t like mushrooms, but my 5 year old loves them!)
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When all else fails, hide it – pureed sweet potato, applesauce or even vegetable juice can easily be hidden in a child’s favorite food when you cook. Spaghetti sauce, meatloaf and baked goods lend to good hiding places for healthy ingredients (my daughter loves my zucchini bread made with applesauce, and she has no idea it has a vegetable in it).