Maybe you’ve got a child who doesn’t like tomatoes, or any red food for that matter. Maybe they can sniff out a single grind of pepper in the pasta sauce, or they won’t eat food that is mixed together or touching another food. Maybe your little one has limited their diet to chicken nuggets and noodles. What to do? Mealtimes can certainly be a minefield!
Children’s appetites and their capacity to accept new foods fluctuates depending on their developmental stage. As parents, we’re emotionally connected to seeing our children sustained by food and it can be upsetting and frustrating to prepare nutritious and delicious meals, only to have our kids refuse them. Many parents find themselves doing whatever it takes just to see some food - any food - go down the hatch.
As challenging as food battles can be, they are completely normal – so instead of being alarmed when your culinary efforts are refused, I recommend a taking a deep breath (or ten!) and trying the no fuss/no drama approach to feeding toddlers and young children (and older children, come to think of it, as sometimes our tweens and teens can be a bit critical of our kitchen efforts too!)