November 23, 2012

Tips for Picky-Eater Kids

I observed that many kids nowadays are picky with the food they eat. Some prefer to have meat rather than veggies. Some choose processed meats like hotdogs, tocino and longanisa. As first time parent, I was worried and consider this as one of the major problem by most parents. Good thing we did not experience this kind difficulty with our son who used to eat what we eat without any hesitation. Of course you still need to be careful on the food you give to your kids.

To resolve this issue, I would like to share some tips based on my experience.

Introduce veggies at early age.
When Matt learned how to take solid foods, we preferred introducing him mashed veggies than meats. Although meat is a major source of protein needed in their growth and development, there are some alternative sources like eggs and veggies high in protein.

One of the veggies that kids hate is the bitter gourd or ampalaya. If you try to introduce this to your kids when their taste buds are starting to develop, they will surely familiarize with its taste making this as one of their favorites.

We also used to give Matt oregano extract mixed with his milk every morning to prevent him from getting cough and colds thus making him familiar with bitter taste. Furthermore, this will help your kids to love taking medicine. In our case, Matt loves to take medicine whatever the taste is.

Switch food varieties.
To prevent being bored about the food they eat, try to switch every now and then. Better give them different meals daily.

When we introduced Matt with baby foods like Cerelac and/or Gerber we used to buy different variant in small packages and give him different flavour every week. Furthermore, try to make your own baby food. This is lot cheaper compared to those sold in the market.

Make your own.
If your kids start to love processed foods, make your own. Processed meats are considered unhealthy because of the artificial flavorings and colors. Making your own processed food does not only give you confident of the healthy food but you are sure that these foods are safe and sanitized.

I used to make my own skinless longanisa and chicken tocino where Matt loves to have it in his plate. Maybe one day, I will make my own hotdogs too. LOL.

Mask your food.
How? If your kids do not want to eat veggies, why not use them as major ingredient in making their favourite dishes. For example, if your kids love burgers, try to make use of veggies like hearty burger (banana blossoms). You may also try making squash pancake or siomai made of kalabasa and sardines.

Matt loves the hearty burger

Another way to mask your veggies is make dried of it and incorporate them in your meal. I used to make dried malunggay leaves, grind it and add them in soups and other meals.

I hope this will help in someways to parents having picky-eater kids.

How about you, do you have any tips to prevent kids from being picky?

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