10 Ways to get your Kids Eating Food!

The Pro vs Finicky

Yes...you're here because of your finicky kid... That's alright, there are more than a handful of those fussy little cherubs! Getting the kids to eat is the toughest fight for every mom... okay, dads too! And the ordeal to get that one bite into their tiny little mouth begins

right from the time they turn one.

While the nutritious food you prepare for your kid gives you a heavenly satisfaction, the hassle of trying to get it into their little tummies is no less a hell. You may feel helpless and disappointed, but you still have a reason to smile. Kids aren't as smart as they think they are! (yes its cute they think they are smarter than us). They can be creatively distracted and made to enjoy the very meal you have prepared for them.

Well, your fourteen year old kid can be finicky too... but we are not taking about them. Kids need spoon feeding (literally) till about the age of five, depending on their eating habits. You may still be running behind your five year old with a bowl full of food or enjoying a relaxed sumptuous family meal with just a two year old promptly nibbling off the food offered to him/her. You needn't lose heart as yet. You can try a few of these things, considering your kid's age bracket... 

1) Story Time: Create a short story. Bring in animals - naughty and nice, those who eat and those who don't etc & let the sequence unfold as per the rate at which your kid begins to take that bite.

2) Songs Time: Songs are never out of fashion; its a creative distraction for all ages between one to five! If you don't know many songs, just create one around food or animals ...or the favorite animation character that your child loves. 

3) Games Time: 'You eat one bite and then we kick this ball' or 'You eat, then hide and I'll find you'.... well, there are many games you can create and play them...each time taking turns. But at every turn make sure your kid eats one bite of his/her food.

4) Draw & Paint: Get the kids to eat while they create their masterpiece. Each time they need a bite, just step in to give help. And just as there are no free lunches, no free creative help without a bite! 

Eating together: Siblings or Friends or Family

5) Teddy Get Together: Get their soft toys (Dolls, Teddies, Bunnies etc) to sit together for a little picnic... and make sure your kid is one of the invitees. Let him/her eat along, just as the obedient teddies and dolls do!

6) 20 minute Picnics: While this option is not an option viable at all times, but if you have a little garden in or around your home, take the kid out for a little picnic. Even if it is not a full fledged picnic (baskets, mats & frisbee kinds), it can be just some fun-eat-out in your garden.

7) Family Fun: If you can get your husband or an elder sibling to join the struggle, it can turn into fun for the family. Just let your hubby or yourself dance to something funny or create some fun noises... even the elder sibling can do that... And this can surely keep the kid distracted and engrossed, while you smoothly glide a bite into that little mouth. After all, 'A family that has fun together, stays together!'

8) Friends Forever Time: If your kid enjoys the company of other kids (a few kids between age two to four are shy or scared of other kids), then you could opt for a friends meal time. If your kid has his/her little friends in the neighborhood, you can plan one or two days a week for such a rendezvous. Let the moms get together with the kids and their tiffins at a common place. It can be a nice little party for the moms too!

9) Get Creative with Food: This is quite an interesting option. It keeps your creative buds blooming and the kids can have fun eating them. Your two to five year olds with really love it. Let them bite into a sandwich where grated cheese hair, olive eyes, tomato smile, cucumber ears! Present foods creatively. The next you want to offer yoghurt to your little one, just have a small glass filled with yummy diced fruits & yoghurt poured into it. And then call it rainbow on a cloud? 

10) Ease it off: The difficult option! Just let your kid eat on his own. Kids need their freedom too. Most of the times, they would like to start off on their own...only to realize that it isn't easy to carry on eating. That's where you need to step in and get them to finish their meal. But just as part of courtesy, always allow your toddler to five year old to start their meal on their own.

You can try all options (one option a day) and see what works best for your kid. While there may be many more creative ideas to help your child eat right, avoid their dependency on a TV show or any of those fancy gadgets that have become our easiest option to get the child eating. Also, it is important that the child eats his meals properly. Otherwise they tend to get cranky (because they cannot link hunger pangs to their need for food) and may increase their intake of snacks like chocolate cereals, cereal bars etc (foods that are sometimes offered to keep them happy & not as a meal!).