How Do You Get Kids to Eat Different Foods?

Age. I ate next to nothing a child, by the time I was a teen a lot better. Now I will try anything! My oldest two were always good eaters, younger two are coming along.

If you do the same thing, which it sounds like you are doing, it is probably personality.

I do make all my kids try everything once and the funny thing is they will willingly try anything but they just like to stick with a core group of likes.

I dont really have overly picky eaters, but I'm a basic cook, so they eat a variety of foods, but the same usual things. Over the last few months, I have tried new recipes, but I will make sides that I know they will eat so I don't have to make something special if they hate what I cook. So my son liked most of what I cooked, my daughter didnt like the southwest salad, but she picked out all the chicken and lettuce and left the rest, basically the beans. So just try one thing new, not the entire menu, so they still have something to eat. And just tell them they have to take a bite and see what happens. Otherwise, I think they will likely grow out of it when they get older. Good luck.

We had two "picky eaters". They got over their pickyness because we required (! ! !) them to eat whatever we put on the table.

I worked with a picky eater. When ever we had a dinner business meeting where he was included, it was very difficult to find a place to have our meeting. I know he was passed over for promotion at least once because the bosses felt if he wasn't willing to try new foods, he wouldn't be willing to try new ideas.

One dinner where I made a beef soup for the family, my two picky eaters said they wanted their dinner without any spices. (I used salt, parsley, garlic and onion.) I finally gave in to the whining and said, ok, you two don't want any spice in your soup and they both said yes. (Teenagers!) So I went over to the sink and filled two bowls with warm water and put it in front of them and said, ok, here is your soup. There aren't any spices in it. No beef spice, no carrot spice, no onion spice, no potato spice, no rice spice, no anything spice. OR you can eat the regular soup I made. They chose the regular beef soup.

Good luck to you and yours.

We have the "no thank you bite" rule in our house. You have to take at least one bite before you can say, No thank you to an item on your plate.

My husband, AKA dinner enforcer. is a great ally on this one:)

Are your kids old enough to help pick and prepare a meal? This is something I just started doing with my daughters. I got two recipe books meant for kids that show a picture of what each recipe looks like. Each week one of the girls picks out a recipe from the books that they would like to try. We prepare the meal together. It has helped them to try new things. They haven't liked all the new things we've made, but do like some of them.

I've never had a 'clean plate rule' but I did have a 'you have to try it' rule, similar to what a couple of others have mentioned. Both my husband and I lead by example, which is tougher for my husband! ;)

It's been proven that it may take up to 15-20 tries of something for all of us, kids and adults, to get used to a texture or taste.

I also agree that, so some extent it is an age or phase thing. BUT, unless her taste buds are challenged, it will be much harder to get her to expand her palate later. My 17 year old has a friend that, I kid you not, eats broccoli, buttered noodles, apples and chicken strips! And her mom has even told me that she only fixed what she would eat as a child.

I too, like Jo, eat much more now than I did when I was younger. But I kept trying things. So just keep having your daughter try things.

I've vastly expanded my kids' once picky palates by hiding veggies in their foods and baked goods...it has seriously changed their eating habits as a result. I always offer a veggie on the plate, not hidden too.

But we have a steadfast rule in my house. I don't get into eating battles. If you try everything on your plate and decide you don't like something, that's fine, you don't have to eat it. But no dessert, and no snacking later on other food, period. I save their dinner and will reheat it if they are hungry later. Amazing what they will eat whey are really hungry. :-)

Continue to put them on her plate and expect her to try them. (Leave the spicy foods off her plate but let her know she can try them if she likes.) A good rule of thumb is to tell her everyone has to taste everything on their plates at every meal, at least one bite, and then can eat all of the foods they like. Once she has the one taste down increase it to 2 and so one. Try to give her something you know she will eat, something she may eat, and something she has never tried at each meal.

It sounds as if she likes "sweet" foods, so do honey glazed carrots and things of that nature. I make meat loaf with a brown sugar/catsup/mustard glaze and that's a hit with kids, too, even my little guy who didn't like meat.

Try serving simple dips or hummus with veggies like carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, radishes, and mushrooms. Make sure the mac and cheese you serve is whole grain, as well as the bread and tortillas or wraps you use for her quesadillas.

Also, something I read last night is that it's good to put as many different colors of food on a young child's plate as you can to make it more appealing to them and get them to eat more or different foods, kids like 6-7 different colors, adults like 3. The suggestion was to put just a few bites of several foods of different colors on a small plate and serve.

Basically if she continues to see everyone eating a variety of foods and that's what is put in front of her she will learn to eat them. My guy didn't really care for apples or raw carrots (I shredded them so he wouldn't choke) before but at 3 he now asks for them if they're not on his plate. And I'm happy to say we are pretty much done with the cheese puffs as treats, his choice, yay!

My MIL famously served the same eggs to my hub (when he was pre-school aged). he rejected it for breakfast, he was excused from the table. for lunch, the eggs were reheated and presented, he rejected it and was excused. reheated and presented for dinner, he rejected it and was excused. I think he relented at breakfast. He never again refused to eat anything served to him. My mom was a veritable short order chef. Poor thing catered to our picky ways well into high school. I am with MIL on this one.

Hubs step mother tells a story of how her Nanna would coax the kids to eat a thing saying its the favorite food of say the pitcher on the kid's fav baseball team. Tomorrow's dinner would be the fav food of the catcher. The kid would actually eat it. Once she ran out of players, she would then turn to the rival team, and say, this is the pitcher's most hated food. Again success. Between all the players on the field, and those who are fielded less often she expanded the kid's repertoire by at least 20+ meals.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

If she's between ages 2-5 you're screwed until she's 5 or 6. It's just a brain thing that happens where foods get tagged as poisonous/gag/yuck/spit it out. Essentially, it makes foods taste like dogpoo that weren't previously classified by the brain as food.

So... my familiy KNOWS about this neurological response, and we all do the "travel the world via food" thing between ages 1&2 to introduce as many foods as possible so the brain will tag them as edible instead of posionous... but INEVITABLY...

- 2nd kids
- 1 of a set of twins or trips

...Don't get the "full treatment". It's because mom/dad get overwhelmed. So #2 or 1/2 or 1/3 of a set end up eating boring stuff for 3 years. It's especially difficult with number 2, or with multiples.

With #2, you've already got #1 set (so people just forget that even though #1 has already had dozens of exposures to 40 herbs and spices, #2 has only had 5 herbs and spices, when was the last, oh, yeesh. THAT long ago? Whoops. It's easy with #1, and by #3 you've got chaos down to a science, but #2 things go sideways. 2 kids are 3 times the work of 1, but 3 are half the work of 2. #4 onward just keeps getting easier and are a LOT LESS work than 1. It's weird kid-math.).

Wiith multiples, they trade. So 1/2 snags all the plain pasta, and 2/2 snags all the sauced pasta. 1/3 and 2/3 snag all the flavorful part of the meal, but 3/3 trade for the bland parts. You end up with 2 or 3 empty plates, but they've divided and conquered so they're only eating what they like best.

DON'T give new foods once the goof has happened UNTIL they're 5 or 6, unless you're feeling brave enough to risk getting an even smaller menu. Just go with boring.

You can try blending foods, but it's 50/50 on whether the brain will accept the new chemical signature, or whether it will reject BOTH, and your list of accepted items gets even smaller.

To know... the response starts right around age 2, and lasts until age 5-6 UNLESS you force foods. If you force a food, the response typically lasts 20+ years.

If you've decided to brave more rejections, however, or they're 5-6 years old...

- Blending (start off with a LOW ratio, like a 1/4 teaspoon instead of 2 tablespoons called for, and gradually work your way up. You can't taste a super low ratio, but your brain will recognize what you can't taste. Start low enough and you can SOMETIMES trick the brain)

- Helpers (have them help you cook, and have them assemble as much as possible, tasting all the way from beginning to end)

- ADD FATS (like boil carrots in chickenstock instead of water, melted butter/ranch/etc. for dips)... because our bodies are wired to crave fats

- No stress. (The more stress is added, the more likely a rejection will happen).

- Goofiness. (Like asparagus makes your pee smell terrible, or cabbage/beans/etc makes you fart. Kids are often willing to endure "terrible" tasting food for a funny outcome.)

I'm with Christy. They have to at least eat one good sized bite before they can tell me they don't like it. I don't make special meals for them but will give them sides they like. Like curry chicken (which they're not crazy about), I'll make white rice on the side.

I have the unconventional "no bite" rule at my house, which means that if Kiddo (5) doesn't want to try it, I don't force it. I was forced to eat certain foods and have a lifelong gag reflex when confronted with them. It's spoiled some foods for me that I would really like to enjoy now as an adult.

What we do: putting together the plate at mealtime; I make sure there are at least two 'known' preferred foods on the plate and then whatever else I'm serving, within reason. (As in, I love Kim Chi, but I am not going to make my son eat it because he really hates spicy foods.)

I also involve him in making meals, so he becomes familiar with many of the foods through touch and handling. It's a little less threatening to try a sliver of a new food that you've cut/chopped yourself than it is staring at you on your plate.

Grow some food yourself. Carrots fresh out of the garden are amazingly tasty, as is so much produce. Plus there's the pride of having created something to share at suppertime!

Lastly, unless I'm making something pretty far out taste-wise, I don't offer any wonderful substitutions. He can eat what we are eating, or not.

Have patience. I know I grew into a more varied palate as an adult, it just takes time. (and google 'super-tasters'. I think I'm one... very strong sense of taste due to lots of taste buds! )

And I should add, too, that Kiddo has a wide variety of vegetables that he does like. I did learn that he prefers them raw and I have to cook/steam mine so I can eat them. But not forcing him to try new things doesn't mean that he has a limited diet... it's just that he enjoys them in his own time.

I have one picky eater and one good eater. I have tried everything with the picky eater and he has never changed much at all. He has to try some of everything on his plate. In 8 years this has never made him like something new....but we will keep doing it. If you ever can figure out a method please let me know! Our other child likes almost everything and is happily willing to try everything. I just hope our picky eater outgrows it one day. I have 2 good friends who both say they were just like this growing up. One said he outgrew it around high school and the other friend said she started trying new foods in middle school. They both said that on their own they wanted to like more foods at that time in their lives...it had nothing to do with their parents and more to do with their peers. I can hope!

I am a very picky eater myself and my mom was one that if I did't like it I didn't have to eat. There were many nights I did not eat dinner because of that. I resented her for that. She did not try and fix what I liked it was only what my dad liked. So with my sons I do my best to make sure they will eat it and if they wont which happens some there is something they will eat. There are many times that I cook stuff just for them cause I wont eat it. I don't feel like a short order cook. But for the most part the will make their own if it's a fend for yourself night. Or if I have cooked and they don't want it.

I agree with Christy - except ours was called the "I don't want any portion", which was really just a small spoonful or bite of something.

There were times my daughter would have 2 or 3 "I don't want any" portions throughout the meal!!!!!!

I'm not sure what age your picky eater is..... that will sometimes vary your technique. I'm not big on reward or punishment with food. It just is what it is. ugggh. She just knew that I expected her to eat the small portion - and that she would be served it more than once in her life, so she needed to build the skill of not gagging and being polite at the table even when she was served a food she didn't like or didn't want to try.

I also talked with her about the fact that taste buds change over your life..... what you like at 3, you might not like at 10 but really love at 15 so it's important to keep "trying" the food as you cycle through.

Does your daughter like to look stuff up on the computer? Maybe have her make you a list of food she'd like to try from each continent for every season, or whatever. Or you guys could do your hair like the country you're eating that food and make it more educational-focused than nutrition-focused.

The other thing you can do is have her google how to prepare it so she thinks it might taste good. For example my daughter got it into her head that she doesn't like brussle sprouts. So I had her google recipes for brussel sprouts that included bacon. She now requests the baked brussel sprouts with feta and bacon (just a teeeny amount). Maybe if you gave your daughter some control over selection (and definitely helping with preparation) she would be more prone to eat it?

Good Luck

My husband grew up having to eat dinner for breakfast if he wouldn't eat it and he swears that's why he's everything now but I'm not sure I believe it. People have different taste buds. I think I'm very sensitive to bitterness and it's why I don't like wine all that much like all my friends do. I wish I did! So maybe tricks work or maybe they don't and it just depends on the person. I wouldn't sweat it too much although green vegetables are impt. We bribed our kids with a small treat after dinner if they ate their vegetables. My youngest eats them great but now my oldest really really seems to dislike things she used to eat fine. I dont think she's acting and how horrible to have to eat a lot of someting you hate. But things to try -my husband has used salad dressing on vegetables - blue cheese or ranch - and that's worked well. Also, cooked spinach with apple sauce gets it down. I would insist on one bite though vs outright refusal to even try something. If she loves cherry tomatoes, insist she have a bit of lettuce with one. She will barely taste it. If she refuses, I'd take away a priviledge. Green vegies are impt. Same time, a very tall athletic, very smart guy friend said he grew up on mayonaise sandwiches...

I like the "no thank you" bite rule.

Months ago, someone asked this same question and one of the answers, I think, involved putting a bowl of M&Ms on the table. If you ate a good spoonful of each item on your plate (not just a lick!) you got to eat some of the M&M's after dinner. If you dont, you get to see mom and dad chomping happily away at them.

Do you have a farmer's market near you? We go to the one near us, and the kids love to taste all the different foods and will try things they wont if we offer them at home.

Also - I like the idea of the kids helping you prepare the food. If she likes cherry tomatoes, she might like fresh peas or edamame - both have a fresh taste and good texture.

Continue eating a wide range of food and enjoying it in front of her. My dad loved to eat brussel sprouts and spinach and we wouldnt touch them as kids. Now, as an adult, I love them too.

Does she like to dip food? My kids will eat anything if they can dip it in something.

I look forward to the other responses.

I tell my girls that if they eat 'whatever it is' it will make them big and healthy. My youngest who is 3, will say, strong like popeye right mama, Ill say yea, and shell eat ANYTHING, and try anything, my oldest, who is 4, will usually make a weird face, so ill tell her, You want me to call the Dr. and tell him your not eating healthy, or Ill tell her im going to call the dentist and tell her your not eating good and all of your teeth will fall out, she will usually try it then. Or we sing the yo gabba gabba try it and youll like it. These tactics usually work.

I wouldn't worry too much. When I was a child the only veggies I would eat were baby carrots and head lettuce! I wouldn't eat hot dogs, peanut butter, ham, bacon, sausage, pickles, , tomatoes, yams, onions, anything green, anything purple etc etc... I could go on! My mom said I lived on turkey and lettuce sandwiches for about 5 years. A little lettuce with carrot was the only veggie she could get in me. I survived. And as I got older I added more and more to my list of things I would eat! Now I eat paleo which is all meat, veggies and fruit and nuts. No grains or dairy. I am quite an adventurous eater as well. My kids eat way healthier than I ever did and while it does get boring the "kid food selection" I just am happy they eat more than I did. The difference between my upbringing and theirs is they have no processed food around in the house. My parents ate veggies but were not adventurous and there were always crackers around to fill up on. I found when I changed my family's diet to grain and dairy free my kids adjusted quickly. For snacks they get fruits and veggies with hummus or guacamole. Lots of smoothies from coconut milk and fruit. At dinner they get whatever main dish I cooked and they pick whatever veggie of fruit they want. They tend to like raw veggies - makes it easy. In other words, they will eat what is around. So if mac n cheese is in the house they will choose to eat that because it is loaded with salt and tastes good. I never force my kids to eat anything. I do tell them if they want seconds that they need to have tried what is on their plate first. You want more berries? First try your meat, then we'll talk! They have their separate preferences, one likes meat one wants all fruit. I think they are just born with preferences. Just keep exposing them to lots of good choices, limit the bad and be patient. I was a terrible eater. Now I'm not. My kids surprise me all the time! There is still hope!