Children are fussy. They are fussy about what they wear, what they want to do and when and fussy about what they eat. They do this to demonstrate their control and/or to seek attention. A child is more likely to get the attention off their parent if what they eat is very limited. Parents, knowing that they are not getting a balanced diet, feel stressed.
They also worry that meal times will always be the same and that eating out will never be an option.
Here are 10 ways to handle your ‘fussy eater’
Don’t make a big deal if they refuse their food. Just take the meal away and make no comment.
Don’t force your child to eat foods they don’t like and don’t provide an alternative meal for your child.
Disguise the foods they don’t like in food they do. They will never know there are vegetables on the pasta sauce if you blend them.
Go food shopping with them and let them choose some foods they are willing to try.
Get them to help prepare the meal they are going to eat.
Make sure they are hungry when they sit down to eat otherwise they won’t eat anything, never mind anything they would not normally eat.
Give them a taste challenge. With their agreement, blindfold your child and then put a tiny bit of food on a fork and then put it into the child’s mouth. They taste it and try and guess what it is. It’s a great ways to introduce new foods.
Remove distractions – TV, computer games, etc.
Try and eat around the dinner table. It will help children to take meal times more seriously and help with their social skills as well.
Don’t call them a fussy eater – it will make them feel they should live up to that ‘label’ .
Which ways have you tried/would you try?
For for information on help with chidlrens behaviour see www.thekidscoach.org.uk
Naomi Richards is The Kids Coach. She provides life coaching for children who need help with any behavioural and emotional issues that they have. She provides a space for children to talk confidentially about why they are unhappy and helps them resolve their problems in an interactive, creative and supportive way. The issues Naomi helps children with are around parent separation, self-esteem, confidence, friendship, bullying, anxiety and any other home or school related problem. Naomi works face to face with children, via Skype and runs workshops during the year on a variety of subjects. She is also a media spokesperson and has appeared on radio and in local and national press. See her website for more details. 
