If you have children or are ever around children you might know that it can be a bugger to get kids to eat healthy!  My kids are no exception to this rule. They are scared of most vegetables and are major complainers at dinner time.

My kids would be perfectly content to eat breakfast and lunch foods all the time.

I’ve been thinking about my 3 sweet picky eaters a lot lately and worry about their health, growth and well being.  My 2 1/2 year old could eat cereal for breakfast, lunch AND dinner. YIKES.

So what do we do? We have been working on this a lot in our home and will probably continue to work on this for a while…

Here are 5 tips to help the picky eater in your life:

1. Eat Together– Whenever we eat dinner together as a family our kids are much more likely to eat better.  They are more focused and it helps for me and my husband to be right there with them giving them positive encouragement all the way… especially while they are choking down a bite of carrot.

2. Offer A Reward– Some people don’t believe in rewarding their kids for good eating.  I’m OK with it.  I will reward my kids for trying new foods, being brave, not complaining and just eating what I have prepared.  Sometimes a good old fashion bribe is just what you need. So I am totally fine with offering a cookie to those who finish their food or to those who take 2 bites of a new food.

3. Praise Every Tiny Bite– Even if your child takes a tiny bite of potatoes praise them.  Don’t say, “Are you kidding me that was tiny, quit dry heaving!”  Be positive, encourage them to try more and just let them know they are doing a good job by trying it at all.

4. Let Them Be Hungry– Don’t let you kids eat too close to dinner.  By about 3:30 or 4 I don’t let them grab anymore snacks.  This is usually the time they want to start tanking up because they know some sort of dinner that they don’t like is in the near future but don’t let them.  Let them be hungry for a bit, they will be more likely to eat their dinner.

5. Keep Trying– Don’t throw in the towel if they try a carrot once and turn their nose up.  Encourage them to try one again, maybe have them dip it in ranch or hummus, just keep trying because it usually takes a few tries before they decide that it’s not absolutely revolting and they find they actually just might like it.

I would LOVE to hear what you do to get your kids to eat good healthy foods.  It can be such a struggle and so frustrating to have picky eaters, so lets keep talking about this below in the comments! Don’t forget to subscribe to receive weekly tips to help you create a more simple whole life!