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"I don't have my own child yet (due in January), but I do work with a lot of young children as my job. I have noticed that the eating habits of the child very closely resemble the eating habits of the parents, and picky children often come from homes where the parents also struggle to eat healthy foods. One of the things I have seen that works well is to model good eating habits, but not to make a "big deal" about it. The attitude of, "this is what we eat, and we all eat the same thing together" seems to work well. That being said, sometimes you can just get a picky kid. I work with a lot of kids with Autism, however, and you can even get them to change their ways." -- SNASH07 - 10/30/2012 10:14:36 AM "My kids favorite foods are clams, crab, watermellon and yams. They will not eat the "typical" foods and it makes it hard to go to fast food places. They will pick at it but most the time will wait for "real food"." -- LADYDR - 10/25/2011 4:32:10 PM "Great ideas! Also, instead of making your own traditional potato french fries, try zucchini fries. Cut up a few zucchinis to the size and shape of french fries, dip them in egg white, and then dip them in a mixture of bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Bake in the oven until crispy (google the recipe for exact temps and times). Delicious." -- TWOCPAS - 1/10/2011 5:47:11 PM "I'm already using many of these ideas to get fruits and veggies into my hubby - the only vegetables he will willingly eat is lettuce in the form of a salad or on a taco - the only fruit he will eat are Red Delicious apples. Sometimes I am in a hurry and I only slice the veggies instead of pureeing them... and I pick up his plate after dinner only to find a careful pile of veggies after he picked them ALL out of whatever we were eating... it's so frustrated to be married to someone with the eating habits of a 4-yr old!! And of course my biggest worry is that he will teach our soon-to-come son bad habits, and that he doesn't HAVE to eat his veggies and fruit. My hubby is certainly not leading by example! I do have one suggestion to make for parents of REALLY picky children, and it's the same problem my hubby has - he's a supertaster and has a really good sense of smell, which means that food has different tastes and textures to him than most other people experience. Veggies are REALLY bitter, fats and cheeses are REALLY greasy, and there's a whole lot more tastes and textures that are turn-offs for him. If you can't get your child to eat a type of food, no matter WHAT you try, then there's a really simple, free, at home test you can do to see if your child is a supertaster. See here: http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/he alth/nutrition/supertaster-tes t-0607 for more details. If that is the problem, then you can consult with your pediatrician or join an online group for how to get the right nutrients into your child without them knowing :)" -- PEARLKITTY - 1/7/2011 12:14:07 PM "I shred fresh zucchini and puree it and it hides well in a wide variety of dishes- my favorite to add it to are pasta or pizza sauce, mac and cheese, and whole wheat pancakes.... Whole wheat pancakes are a great place to hide other things too- banana puree, blueberry puree, pumpkin, etc... and it makes it fun different colors which my toddler likes a lot- she identifies them by color, "Can i have purple pancakes mommy?" Finally, SMOOTHIES- this has been a huge help for me, because my little girl doesn't like the texture of most fruits...so i make a fruit smoothie just about everyday for lunch- Usually blueberry-strawberry-banana plus vanilla yogurt and milk if necessary to thin it." -- SAWAH731 - 10/30/2010 11:01:56 PM "My son is not quite 15 months and he has a tough time with a variety of textures. For the most part, he does not want anything to do with chunks of meat, or veggies like broccoli, peas, etc. I use my magic bullet and blend turkey or chicken with veggies like carrots or parsnips, sweet potatoes, mushrooms,and spinach, ect and I add in some organic baby rice cereal or when I have made it, fresh brown rice, a dash of milk and a little salt less seasoning. I try to mix it up so he gets different flavors. He gets atleast one meal like this a day, so I do not have to worry about him not getting enough protein. He usually eats a good sized bowl of it. For breakfast along with his oatmeal with mashed banana and cinnamon, I give him chunks of "Dave's Killer Bread" equivalent to around a slice. He loves it! Its organic, high in vitamins, fiber and protein and very delicious. I sometimes feel that we should have moved on from the blended foods, but hey, getting proper nutrition for the day overrides any sort of "timeline." I think blending veggies and/or meats and sneaking them into various meals, is the perfect way to make sure your kids are getting their proper nutrition." -- MOXIE78 - 1/18/2010 1:45:34 AM "turkey italian sausage to replace the ground beef and adding zuchinni and carrots ( shredded in the food processor) make the best spaghetti sauce ever!!!!" -- RHEANON - 11/9/2009 4:12:01 PM "My 17 month old daughter used to eat vegetables quite happily, but in the last month or so, I can only get her to eat sweet potatoes and pumpkin. I have no idea how to get her to eat broccoli, squash, carrots, etc., other than hiding them in other foods (sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't). She also used to love meat and now she often rejects that (and eggs). Cheese and fruit are the only consistent things she'll eat. Totally frustrating." -- EUROPE11 - 11/9/2009 7:58:28 AM "My Daughter has no problems with veggies it is meat I struggle with. Also anything with sauce, or a dish that is premixed like a casserole. She is starting to branch out a little now that she is 4, but usually it involves some type of game with Daddy to get her going. She is also an excessively slow eater which seems to be the biggest dinner time challenge. I enjoyed the article, thanks. I would like to see some more "kid friendly" meals that move away from those coined staples, though." -- JASUNCION - 11/1/2009 12:15:10 PM "I really like the emphasis on pureeing vegies into normal meals. I feel like this would even be good for my husband, who only likes a few stable vegies. Thanks for your creativity and inventiveness in this article!" -- LAVENDA - 10/1/2009 8:18:05 AM "My daughter doesn't like regular chicken nuggets that are store bought, but I have a recipe that I make at home where I cut up chicken breast and use Special K or Corn Flake cereal that I crush up with a little bit of cajun seasoning (for a little bit of flavor) and some ground pepper and I make a really easy home-made honey mustard dip and she LOVES it - so does my husband. And it is low in fat and calories so I love making it." -- PAMELA717 - 7/22/2009 10:28:17 AM "I guess I'm lucky in that my kids are not "white" potato fans, they love sweet potatoes and even with my DD being under 2 and DS is 3.5 I get them both Happy meals and cheese burgers, plian extra cheese, one with apples, one with fries and i get a kid cheese burger too and we split the fries. I get a small taste of what I love and they don't get a lot of greasy food. When we eat out anyplace that has sweet potatoes i just order that for them and 1 side of grilled chicken. They split the chicken. Neither eat pizza. No tacos or mexican for DS, he won't have it and DD is too little for the spiceof that. We find we skip over those places when it's time to eat. TG Some places have fresh fruit and yogurt on their menues. We get that for them too. Plues my kids love fish! we try to eat it 2 times a week at home. I just love my son telling me he wants Salmon for dinner or shrimp!" -- HONEYPOD - 6/12/2009 3:43:15 PM "I really feel like I'm in a minority, and probably I am. My biggest problem with my children's diets is sneaking in something besides fruits and veggies. I know it sounds very healthy but that is ALL they will eat willingly...no meats, grains, legumes, etc. We have to literally sit and bargain with them to eat one bite of something else before they can have the fruit or veggie back. We end up putting the "normal food" that we are eating on one plate and keeping the fruits and veggies in separate dishes and they have to have one bite off the plate to pick the fruit or veggie they get to have next. It is easy to find suggestions on sneaking more veggies in but what if that is all your kids eat? For example, when we go to McD's, we still get requests for the kids meals but it is because they want the apple dunkers (without caramel) and the juice. Again, we have to use the apples and juice to get them to eat the chicken. Obviously, my husband and I are not vegetarians or vegans but we do try to eat healthy for the most part (and yes, you can eat healthy at McD's if you're careful). It is fairly easy to sneak fruits and veggies into other meals but I see very few suggestions on how to make meats or grains look like fruit/veggie dishes. Other than our bargaining system, we try to sneak in very small pieces of meats and cheeses into veggies. We used to sneak the other food groups into dipping sauces but they caught on to that "trick" and now won't dip anything either. Has anyone else run into this? If so, how did you solution? " -- KLVESTER - 5/4/2009 9:08:34 AM "hi Loved the recipe suggestions. I have often wondered why children are "supposed to" only want to eat fries, pizza, chicken nuggets, mac n cheese, etc. When did these fatty, low nutrition foods become the go-to dinner options for little kids? I suggest the best idea is to introduce young children to a variety of food and steer clear of the "kid's menu" stuff from the very beginning. If it's "too late" and your child has convinced themselves and others that they only want to eat muffins, fries and hamburgers, then it's good to know you can hide veggies in the bland standards ( while, of course, trying to gently change your child's eating habits to become more varied and healthy)" -- MERI72 - 5/3/2009 10:39:48 AM Report Inappropriate Comment