I have news for all of you trying to get your “picky eater” to try a new food.
Well, more like a secret to share…
…or maybe just a pet peeve…
I am so tired of reading “how to” parenting posts on getting “your picky eater to eat”.
You know, what? Sometimes the issue is a lot more then being “picky”. In fact, most often your picky eater has a lot more going on in his brain development that makes these “how to” posts kind of a waste of time. The messages my son's brain receives when he puts a piece of steak in his mouth are remarkably different than the messages my brain receives when I bite into a piece of steak.
His obstacles are more than a behavioral quick.
As my oldest child (at six) begins his journey in Feeding Therapy {due to his sensory processing make up and subsequent food aversions}, I have discovered and read loads of research that I look forward to sharing with you! My first post on Feeding Therapy – What I Learned at our First Feeding Therapy Session – gives an overview of a What to Expect, Steps to Take, and Resources to review. This post offers an alternative approach to encouraging your child to try a new food.
I read an article that offered a different way to approach the “No Thank You Bite” or the “Just Try It” command. I truly appreciated the perspective the author introduces to the reader. The author offers an alternative approach to getting children to try new/non-preferred foods. She has many great points in the article Re-Define “Try It”. I especially like her point about breaking down the approach to food into many steps, and then celebrating each step (no matter how small or big) the child takes towards taking a bite and swallowing the food. I felt refreshed after reading this article. I feel motivated and excited, rather than overwhelmed by my son's food aversions. I hope you can take a bit of that emotion with you, too.
How to Encourage Your Child to Try a New Food
25+ ways to help kids try new foods without commanding them to do so
- Take a walk through a market or grocery store. Talk about the food.
- Examine the new food
- Research the new food
- Create art with food (Seed Mosaics are a fun example. Create a “Parts of the Plant We Eat” exercise.)
- Learn with food (Cracking nuts or crushing cloves as a Practical Life work, for example)
- Play with food (Many adults have a tough one with this one but your child's brain will devour it.)
- Model eating the new food
- Model eating A new food
- New food in the same room
- New food on the dining table
- New food in a serving dish near the child's table
- Have new food in a special bowl but not on the child's plate
- Have the new food on the same plate as the meal, but use plate with dividers
- New food on the child's plate
- Smell the food
- Touch the food with a fork
- Touch the food with a napkin
- The child passes the food to another family member
- The child serves the food to other table members
- The child feeds parents, sibling, friend, pet
- Remove the food from the plate or from touching the familiar food
- Use regular plate and allow new food to stay there
- Kiss food
- Lick food
- Put food in mouth and take it out, appropriately
- Put food in mouth and eat it
For loads more detail and background on thinking about alternatives to “Just Try It”, please read this article Re-Define “Try It” by Marsha Dunn Klein, MEd, OTR/L. I am a parent and a teacher who reads a ton about this topic. I am not a professional in this field. I offer some knowledge from what I have gathered from th experts in the field.
Thank you! Marnie