Get Your Kids to Eat Food That They Don't Like

Most parents have likely battled with their kids about eating foods they don’t like to eat.[1] Refusing to eat certain foods is a way for children to express their independence and test boundaries.[1] It’s also important to understand that most children are picky eaters and their palates will change as they age.[2] By managing meals, keeping the environment positive, and understanding children’s dietary preferences and needs, you can get your kids to eat foods they don’t like.[1]

Steps

Managing Meals

  1. Consider children’s tastes. When you’re cooking, don’t necessarily make meals geared towards your kids. However, consider their tastes in addition to yours when planning and cooking meals.[3]
    • Make a couple of offerings you know your kids will like if you’re trying a new recipe.[3] For example, if you’re making meatloaf for the first time, consider having sides you know your kids will eat such as potatoes, pasta, or cut veggies.
    • Remember that you’re not a short order cook, but you can tailor dishes you are already making. For example, if you’re putting a spicier topping on your meatloaf, consider leaving part of it plain for the kids. Allow them to try the spicy part if they like.[4]
  2. Keep reintroducing foods. Children are often slow to accept new tastes and textures in food.[5] Encourage your child to try the foods by continuing to place a small portion on their plate. You may find that she eventually tries—and likes—the food.[5]
    • Avoid forcing your child to eat the food. Simply putting it on the plate and letting her see you and others enjoy the food may be enough to get her to try it without coercion.[1] This is called positive peer pressure.[6]
  3. Incorporate liked and disliked foods into one dish. Vegetables, certain cheeses, or spices are often foods that kids don’t like.[3] Mixing foods that kids don’t like with dishes they do like can not only get them to eat the food, but also like it.[4]
    • Keep the mixing simple. For example, if your kids don’t like peas, add them to some rice with a little sauce. For zucchini, you could replace a few lasagna noodles with zucchini strips.[4]
    • Reveal what’s in the dish only when your child says how much she likes it. Remember to stay positive. For example, “I’m so glad you like the lasagna! And you know what else, it has zucchini it in with the noodles. They give it a little extra special taste.”
    • Remind your child that she’s tried the dish before and liked it.
  4. Ask her to try one bite—and no more. Many experts agree that negotiating or bribing your child to eat foods she doesn’t like just doesn’t work.[2] If there is a food she “thinks” she doesn’t like, ask her to try one bite of it without forcing her.[6]
    • Allow your child to try or leave the food on the plate and don’t force her.[7] She may end up trying the food once she sees other people eating it.[6]
    • Avoid negotiating with your child.[8] Saying things like “a little bit for Dad” or “one more bite for Mom” are not normal eating behaviors.[9]
    • Try avoiding bribery as well. There is no unanimous consensus on bribing your child to eat with promises of food they like, but most experts agree that it is not an advisable practice.[8]
  5. Put disliked foods on the table first. Many children play before dinnertime and generate a healthy hunger during this time. If you’re serving a food, such as a vegetable side dish, that your child doesn’t like, consider putting it on the table before anything else. Her hunger may get the better of her aversion.[4]
    • Tell your child you’re getting the main dish ready and it’s going to be a few minutes. Point out that there is something already on the table and that she can start with that.
    • Remember not to force your child to eat food, which is often ineffective and counterproductive.[10] If she’s hungry enough, she’ll likely eat it.[6]
  6. Cook together. Get your kids involved with meal preparation. This gives them the chance to see and feel the ingredients and different foods, including ones they may not like. It may also make them want to try the dish they helped make, even if it contains something they think they don’t like.
    • Allow your child to take active part in cooking through chopping, stirring, bringing plated food to the table, or setting the table.
    • Make sure to praise your child at dinner for her help. For example, “Sophie, you did such a great job cooking tonight. Everyone, doesn’t this taste amazing?”
  7. Eat as a family unit. Studies have shown that children eat a more nutritious diet when they have regular family meals.[6] As often as possible, set a place for every family member, including your child, at the dinner table and eat as a family unit.[6]
    • Eat together even if everyone isn’t home. Make sure to explain this to your child. For example, “Mom had a meeting tonight and wanted to be here with us, especially since we’re having this awesome lasagna.”[8]
    • Create positive peer pressure during the meal. If your child sees others eating and enjoying food she doesn’t like, she may be more inclined to try those foods.[5] Model good behavior for your child by eating and enjoying the same healthy foods that you want your child to eat.[11]

Recognizing Children’s Tastes and Dietary Needs

  1. Take a broad approach to nutrition. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that parents focus on the child's whole eating pattern rather than on pinpointing specific things for the child to avoid.[12] You can help ensure your child is getting what she needs by:
    • Selecting nutritious foods from the five food groups: vegetables, fruits, grains, low-fat dairy, and quality protein sources like lean meats and eggs.
    • Giving children a variety of food experiences.
    • Staying away from highly processed foods.
    • Using small amounts of sugar, salt, and fats with high nutrition choices to enhance the child’s enjoyment of the food.[12]
  2. Give appropriate portions sizes. People often overestimate how much food they need and this is no different with what they give their children.[8] Offering your child only as much food as she can eat may help her consume choices she doesn’t like.[12]
    • Check the suggested portion size for your child’s age before serving food.[13] For example, there is a big difference between what a 1 year old should get and what her 5 year old brother or sister should eat. A one year old can have ¼ cup cooked vegetables, where a 5 year old can have a ¼ cooked vegetables with ½ cup salad.[13]
    • Keep the portions on the smaller size, which may be less overwhelming for your child.[8] Smaller portions also discourage overeating, though you can always give your child more food if she is hungry.[8]
    • Be aware that many children don’t eat enough at mealtimes to keep themselves full. Aim to give your child three meals and two snacks every day.[2] Make sure the snacks are high quality nutrition such as string cheese, yogurt cups, apple slices, a piece of lean turkey, or whole grain crackers with peanut butter.[2]
    • Space out mealtimes and snacks as evenly as possible. Offer snacks well in advance of meals. This can ensure that your child eats a full meal.[2]
  3. Recognize children’s sensitive palates. Recent research has shown that children have different taste palates than adults, in many cases preferring sweet foods to savory or salty options.[14] Keep in mind that children’s tastes are different than an adult's tastes. Their tastes may change as they age. You might find it easier to prepare meals for your child is you are aware of their food aversions.[14]
    • Be aware that a child’s love of sugar may come from the fact that sugar can be a natural pain reliever in children, as recent research has shown.[14] This doesn’t mean, however, that you should indulge all of your child’s sugar cravings.[14]
    • Realize that your child’s taste may change overnight.[15]
    • Consider avoiding very spicy foods and snacks. Many children may find the flavor too much to handle, but recent studies have also shown they can cause inflammation to the stomach lining as well as abdominal pain.[16]
    • Be aware that recent studies show that children have larger reactions to unpleasant smelling foods like pungent cheeses.[17] Allow them to feel out if they want to try “smelly” foods.
  4. Have a routine. Children often thrive with routines, and having regular mealtimes with the same seating arrangement may help your child be more adventurous with food.[2] Make sure to engage everyone at the table, including your child, in conversation to keep things fun and interesting.[2]
    • Ask your child what her favorite part of the meal is and what she learned at school that day.
    • Keep the tone of your conversations pleasant. This can help your child look forward to mealtimes and may make her more receptive to new foods.[2]
    • Give your child a chance to settle down before eating if she’s playing. Tell your child ten to fifteen minutes before dinner starts so she can get herself ready.[2]
  5. Manage your expectations. Fussy eating is often not a child’s problem, but one of the parent.[9] Keeping your own expectations for your child’s eating habits in check—while making sure she’s getting proper nutrition—may help prevent battles over food.[2]
    • Remember that children often won’t like the idea of something new on their plate.[9] Keep reintroducing the food until the child is used to it.
    • Let your child be a child and remember that change can be difficult for them.[9]
    • Leave your child alone and don’t force her to eat.[9] Studies have shown that forcing a child to eat is counterproductive.[8]
    • Be aware that your child won’t starve if she doesn’t eat. In fact, she is more likely to learn to be more flexible in her choices than she is to go hungry.[8]
    • Avoid enforcing unrealistic manners. For example, a spoon is often easier for a child to handle than a fork.[2]



Tips

  • Understand that there will be foods that your children will not eat and that it is normal and acceptable.
  • Kids may need to try a new food 15 or more times before they will decide that they like it.[18]

Related Articles

  • Get a Toddler to Eat
  • Care For a Child with Metabolic Disorders
  • Get an Autistic Person to Eat
  • Eat Out with a Toddler
  • Get to Like Foods You Don't Like
  • Help Your Child Overcome Picky Eating
  • Feed Vegetables to Picky Eaters

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 http://kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition_center/healthy_eating/toddler_meals.html
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 http://familydoctor.org/familydoctor/en/kids/eating-nutrition/healthy-eating/when-your-toddler-doesnt-want-to-eat.html
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 http://www.parenting.com/article/7-ways-to-end-picky-eating
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 http://www.parenting.com/article/7-ways-to-end-picky-eating
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 http://kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition_center/healthy_eating/toddler_meals.html
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 http://kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition_center/healthy_eating/toddler_meals.html#
  7. ↑ http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/carlos-gonzalos-my-child-wont-eat
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 http://kidshealth.org/parent/nutrition_center/healthy_eating/toddler_meals.html#
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/carlos-gonzalos-my-child-wont-eat
  10. ↑ http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/carlos-gonzalos-my-child-wont-eat
  11. ↑ http://www.healthyeating.org/Healthy-Kids/Eat-Play-Love/Article-Viewer/Article/271/healthy-eating-starts-with-parent-role-models.aspx
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/pages/AAP-Recommends-Whole-Diet-Approach-to-Children's-Nutrition.aspx
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 https://www.healthychildren.org/English/healthy-living/nutrition/Pages/Portions-and-Serving-Sizes.aspx
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2011/09/26/140753048/kids-sugar-cravings-might-be-biological
  15. ↑ http://www.bonappetit.com/entertaining-style/trends-news/article/sense-of-taste-changes-aging
  16. ↑ http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/11/18/spicy-snack-foods-sending-children-to-emergency-room-experts-claim.html
  17. ↑ http://www.thedailymeal.com/stop-trying-feed-your-kid-stinky-cheese
  18. ↑ http://ellynsatterinstitute.org/htf/howchildrenlearntolikenewfood.php

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