From Eveningsnews.com
Seven Ways to Tantalize Kids' Taste Buds
By
Sep 20, 2005, 22:20
(NUI) - While all parents face everyday challenges, it's no surprise that mealtime tends to be one of the biggest. Some children want only hamburgers; others are trying out a vegetarian diet, and still others absolutely refuse to even sit down to anything new.
But according to Lynn Fredericks, a family cooking expert with Disney's FamilyFun.com Web site, mealtime - and specifically dinnertime - doesn't have to be an exercise in disharmony and dysfunction.
Through the Web site www.familyfun.com, parents of picky eaters can type in their kids' favorite foods while excluding foods that they do not like to eat. For example, if a child adores chicken but can't stand onions, parents just type in the two ingredients in the appropriate place, and a recipe will appear with the prerequisites.
If your child is a picky eater, the following suggestions from FamilyFun.com can help transform your family dinner from discord to delicious, healthful and harmonious.
* Involve picky eaters in meal planning and preparation. By doing so, your kids will feel like they have some control over what they are eating. Go to the grocery store with your children and let them choose some of the foods.
* Add variety. Offer vegetables for dipping in salad dressing and fruit pieces for dipping in yogurt.
* Serve kid-size portions. Mix shredded vegetables into ground meat and make bite-size meatballs instead of hamburgers. Cut sandwiches into circles, squares, triangles or cookie-cutter shapes.
* Let them do it themselves. For instance, serve tacos and allow children to put the food inside their own tortilla shell.
* Serve what they like. Fix the same food for every meal if they will eat it. Once they are eating better, you can begin to introduce new foods.
* Keep mealtime conversation light and enjoyable. Take the focus off of food.
* Don't coax or watch your children eat. You can influence their eating habits by offering appealing food and keeping mealtimes tension free. But what they actually swallow is up to them. As long as your children are healthy and growing, they are probably getting all the nutritious food they need, despite only eating small portions.
Fredericks also suggests the following mantra for parents cooking with their kids: Don't worry about the mess; don't worry about how long it will take to cook; have fun in the process; and don't focus on the result.
For more helpful hints to solve your dinnertime woes, go to www.familyfun.com/pickyeater.
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