Starting them young ... how to encourage a healthy little eater.

As many of my peers are new mothers, the question of how to avoid the 'fussy eater' is often posed in my direction, and while there is no single formula which fits all children, I thought it might be useful to you if I shared what I know on the topic ...

Over 3 years ago, a friend and I drove to Star Valley to hear the Dalai Lama speak. It was, of course, one of those memorable days, but there was one thing he said in particular which I have never forgotten, and often quoted. A parent in the audience asked what she could do to encourage her child to be a 'good being'. She felt that she had taught him right from wrong, cruel from kind etc ... but wanted to know if there was anything that His Holiness would recommend she did so that she could be certain to send him on his way through life as a good, kind person. The Dalai Lama's response was short and to the point. While he acknowledged and praised the woman for what she had already taught her child, he said that the most important thing you can do as a parent is to be a good person yourself. That's right, to teach by example. He reiterated that you can go blue in the face by 'telling' your children what to do and how to do it, but that at the end of the day, they will do as you do.

I believe this is as true in the kitchen. There is no way that your toddler is going to chow down on a bowl full of Brussels sprouts if he has never seen you eat them. And how much less attractive can you make a vegetable than by boiling it to death, telling him it's too hot to touch, and then bribing him by saying that if he eats one more mouthful of it, he can have the longed-for dessert? I truly think that most of the time, encouraging your toddler to eat healthily is as much a behavioral act as a nutritional one.

So - to start from scratch, here are my top tips:


• Offer your child a selection of healthy snacks and meals from a young age - this helps them develop a willingness to try new foods, and a taste for the healthier options.
• Let your child TOUCH, smell and explore the food. Seriously. I've seen so many mothers hermetically seal up their toddlers clothes in fear of stains, sit opposite their child with a long plastic spoon, and carefully tip the slightly extraordinary looking mush into their child’s mouth, only to become frustrated when their poor child starts turning his head or spitting to try and exert some level of independence in the matter. It is vital that these little people feel that they are part of the eating process - they very soon will be - and they must be allowed to experiment with these new foods in order to become comfortable enough to eat them. Yes, even when they’re 9 months old, let them touch and play with the food, even if you need to help steer it into their mouths.
• Keep the colors and shapes of the food as varied and inventive as you can. I have been known to craft sailing boats and houses out of various vegetables!
• Never assume that your child doesn't like something after not wanting to eat it the first, second or even third time. Toddlers often need to get used to the look, smell and feel of the food before they will try it, so despite not actually eating it, every time it is served at a meal they become more accustomed to it as a food and closer to eating it.
• Ideally, introduce new foods with old favorites - for example, if he hasn't eaten fish, try offering it in his favorite sauce, or with his favorite side (cream cheese works wonders in our house, as does peanut butter as an accompaniment to celery!)
• Have a selection of healthy foods for snack time ... no toddler will choose a mandarin over an Oreo cookie, but if the Oreo cookie is not an option, the mandarin will be fought over! In our house, I'm all about my little guy eating when he's hungry as I really want him to listen to his internal cues, but if it's between meals, the options are always fruits, vegetables or cheese (with the odd goldfish thrown in there for good measure)!
• Try not to use sweet treats as a bribe - these infer that what you are trying to get your toddler to eat is widely-acknowledged as being less desirable than the chocolate cookie you're dangling at the 'clean-plate-finish-post'!
• And finally - the way to make a food look its most desirable is to eat it YOURSELF. Have you ever looked jealously across the restaurant table at a friend's meal? How often have you pleaded with someone else 'just to taste it'? Often, it's not what we have in front of us that we want, but what we don't have in front of us. The same is true of the toddler, and to illustrate this, just this morning, my son and I baked oatmeal and raisin cookies together. After licking the bowl, he exclaimed like the demanding 2 year old he is, that he 'must have a cookie NOW mummy'. I explained that he could have one after lunch. After lunch, I duly handed him a cookie, and grabbed an apple for myself. He took a bite of his cookie and left the rest untouched, finishing my rather over-sized Granny Smith apple unaided! (And yes, the cookies were delicious in case you were dubiously wondering about our combined baking skills!)

I hope this helps. I do acknowledge that some parents have a hell of a tough time with this area of life, and it can be frustrating and upsetting to no end (especially when you have slaved over the kitchen stove only to have it thrown unceremoniously to the floor by your toddler as he demands mac and cheese for the 5th night in a row ... we have ALL been there!). I guess my main message is not to assume that just because the restaurant chefs restrict the kid menu to chicken nuggets and pizza, you should too. (And as a post-note, I'm all about asking for a kids portion of regular menu item - I mean seriously, why not?! I vote for giving our children's taste-buds the benefit of the doubt).

If any of you are looking for a great stock of toddler-friendly recipes, I recommend 'Baby & Toddler Meal Planner' by Annabel Karmel ... we still use this, and I often feed the whole family from it which is part of its beauty!

Have fun, and let your creative juices flow!