As a children grow up, a healthy, balanced diet that they enjoy is essential, but if your child develops a fussiness for food, this can be a struggle to achieve, especially when it seems all their favourites are all that is bad for them!

Between the ages of 2 and 6, this choosy approach to food can be most common, however, this hard-to-please attitude can occur at any age. Pre-teens and teenagers can often be just as particular as toddlers and for many of the same reasons. These reasons can often be the child’s need to explore their ability to gain what they want, and assert their own independence. It is therefore, important that the parent doesn’t pay too much attention to these demands, as a child can then become accustomed to this approach in order to get what they want.

Here are some effective methods in getting children enthusiastic about what they eat…

Joint Effort
Getting together for the preparation of a meal can be a great way to get children involved and enthusiastic in what they are about to eat. Even small children can help by getting items out of the cupboard and sitting next to you when you cook. Talk to them about what you are doing with the food and where it has come from to get them excited about helping you out. Older children and teenagers can help decide what they would like from the weekly shop, and what meals would be good for the week ahead - fresh fruit smoothies you make at home are delicious, nutritious and always popular with older children. The good news is that, if you adopt a positive attitude and continue to serve healthy, nutritious meals without fuss throughout their infancy, the chances are your child will grow out of their picky approach to food.

Family Affair
Taking satisfaction in the creation of your own food and not getting hung up on whether of not your child will like it or not is a good way to promote a healthy attitude towards food to your child.