Submitted by: Terri Kolb
Health and Well-Being Educator
University of Wisconsin Madison-Division of Extension Forest and Oneida
Feeding young kids can be tough – refusing to eat new foods and other picky eating habits are common at this age. Childhood is a critical period for developing eating behaviors and habits that last into adulthood. Early eating habits play a vital role in growth, development, overall health, and the prevention of obesity and other lifelong, diet-related chronic diseases.
New research shows that it’s not just WHAT we feed our kids that matters, but also HOW we handle feeding or eating that’s really important in setting lifelong healthy habits. Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, gathered a panel of experts to develop best practices and recommendations for promoting healthy nutrition and feeding patterns for children 2 to 8 years of age.
The single most effective strategy to get kids to eat healthy food is REPEATED EXPOSURE. Kids may need to try something 10-15 times before knowing if they like it or not!!!
Tips to encourage your kids to try new foods:
- Offer a new food with familiar flavors. Offering new foods, like veggies, with dips or dressings or seasoning them in a familiar way will encourage kids to try new foods and help with acceptance.
- Start small. Offering just a few small bites of a new food may be enough to get kids to like new foods and limit wasted food.
- Get kids involved and make meal time fun! Involving kids in the meal prep gives opportunities to explore new foods and increase familiarity and comfort and can be an important step before tasting.
- Encourage learning through all of their senses! Allow kids to touch and smell their food to spark interest and improve comfort with new foods.
- Offer first courses. Offering vegetables as an appetizer at dinner gives kids the opportunity to eat healthy foods when hungry and without other competing food.
- Offer positive reinforcement, such as non-food rewards or praise to encourage trying new foods. Focus praise on willingness to try (“great job trying”) rather than the child (“you are a good boy”).
- Let your children take charge by choosing which vegetable they’d like to try. This choice should be given before meal preparation and based on what is available in the home, so food is not wasted.
- Get creative! Give new foods fun names like “green brocco-trees”!
- Model how delicious new foods can be. Children are quicker to try new foods and more accepting of them when they see others eating and enjoying the same foods and beverages.
AVOID:
- Pressuring kids to eat. Instead, encourage them to try new foods through the tips above!
- Using food as a reward or to soothe emotions. Instead use non-food rewards. Offering food as an emotional tool or reward can set kids up to use food as an emotional support later.
Ideas for Non-Food Rewards
- Offer verbal positive reinforcement for trying new healthy foods `
- Give stickers `
- Choose from a “prize box” of dollar store trinkets or party favors `
- Play a favorite game
Tips to Limit Food Waste `
- Start small. Even providing just a few small bites of a new food may be enough to get kids to like new foods while limiting wasted food. `
- Use frozen vegetables. This reduces food spoilage and waste by allowing small amounts to be prepared and offered to kids at any given meal or snack.
To learn more about health and well-being programs available in Forest County contact Terri Kolb at UW-Extension at terri.kolb@wisc.edu or call (715)478-2212.
Learn more about UW- Extension Forest County at https://forest.extension.wisc.edu or call (715)478-7797.
