Tantrums and meltdowns—does every meal time at home feel like a war of forks and spoons? Maybe, it is time for you to adopt a new game plan. For young and rapidly growing children, it is essential to get proper nutrients for healthy growth and development. A poor diet can lower their immunity and cause mild to severe health conditions. But how can we tempt fussy little eaters to munch on healthy foods in a tasty way to meet their daily nutrient requirements without any ruckus?
Fussing eating in children: any tips?
At the initial stages of a child’s development, he/she grows at a rapid pace. This is a time when most physical growth, cognitive development and emotional well-being takes place. Thus, it is essential to eat the right food in the right portion. Every food group has different health benefits that help develop the body and mind. For instance, fruits and vegetables provide essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to support overall health and strengthen the immune system, while protein provides essential amino acids for muscle growth and cell repair.
If your child is a picky eater, we feel you. Having a child with sensory issues, we understand how difficult it is to convince them to try new foods. Most children turn up their noses at new, healthy foods that are good for them. It is NORMAL. Like us, children eat the food they like from the plate and would not touch those that are not pleasing to the senses. On some days, they leave nothing on the plate, and on others, they leave everything on the plate. It is NORMAL.
But what makes our children picky? Many factors affect dietary choices and patterns and these factors are subjected to change throughout a child’s weaning journey. Some children are sensitive to the look, texture, smell, or taste of the food. While others are just not in the mood to touch certain foods, on certain days. On a side note, the eating habits of a child’s main caregiver can also affect the child’s way of eating.
Like all phrases, this too shall pass. There is no short cut here, but to be calm and feed on. Do not give up on our precious little ones, take your time to dish out delicious home-cooked meals consisting of a little of everything from the 5 food groups. If nothing works today, try again a few days later and encourage them to try a little each time.
A little more tips here for you:
- Children learn by example, always be positive when offering food and show the child how much you like a food when are asking them to eat it
- Refrain from the use of seasoning to add flavours in an attempt to get the child to eat the food. This is going to make it more difficult for the child to accept the same food when it is offered in its natural state.
- Try not to offer too much of a kind of food at one time as it can come across as intimidating and overwhelming for the young child.
- “Eat your veggies and you can have dessert.” Unknowingly to most of us, good intentions backfire. This makes veggies less appealing and desserts more valuable. So let’s try to “bribe” our children a little less each day.
- No power struggle on the dining table. Let us all have our options of what we can or cannot eat, and enjoy our food in peace, and all happiness.
Healthy & delicious home-cooked meals
Cooking at home gives you control over what is offered to picky little eaters. It also provides a more conducive and relaxing environment for children to experiment and explore different types of foods offered to them, and for parents to understand their children’s dietary preferences better.
Balancing work, living a life, and taking care of children’s nutrition in Singapore, can be a chore. But, continue to have faith and believe that there is a solution to everything. We encourage family bonding time over the dinner table or even in the kitchen. It saves you the hassle of weaving in and out of traffic, and removes the stress and anxiety of dining in a packed restaurant. Besides, indulging in tasty home-cooked dishes is always a better option than eating-out, where you have absolutely no control over what is added into the foods you are consuming.
Food ideas just for you
Now that we know it is more preferred to dine at home, how do we then come up with appropriate yet appealing food ideas? Making food for your weaning baby and/or young children can come across as daunting. Let us lend you a hand. At Shane’s Kitchen, we constantly come up with interesting food ideas for children in Singapore. Our variety of stocks, broths, soups and porridges are made with 100% natural ingredients, and no nasties. Not only does our conveniently frozen food items serve as packed lunches in Singapore, you are also free to enjoy it your way by adjusting the consistency, textures or flavours of the food items. On top of all that we have to offer, we also share exciting home cooked food ideas on our social media for you to try out at home. So, check us out and we look forward to serving you soon.