Avoiding Food Fights with Your Kids

Step 1: Ways to Help Your Child Eat Healthfully

During the toddler years, children experiment with tastes and textures. They learn how to handle food and get it into their mouths (or most of it, at least). They also begin to form strong opinions about food. There is no obvious rhyme or reason to these opinions, which can make providing a nutritious, balanced meal a real challenge. But parents can avoid food fights and still keep their kids eating healthful foods.

These tips may help:

• Children learn by example. Eat the same healthful foods that you serve your child. If fruits, vegetables, and vegetarian meals are on your plate, your children will embrace them, too. They are healthy for both adults and children.
• If your child refuses a food the first time it is offered, don't push, but don't give up hope. Sometimes it takes several tries for kids to accept a new food. Offering a small amount of the new food with a dish that's familiar-and well-liked by the child-may help.
• If a food isn't accepted in one form, try another. For example, a child who doesn't like cooked spinach may like fresh spinach as part of a salad. If a child doesn't like chunks of tofu, try making the tofu into a dip and serving it with steamed vegetable strips.
• If your child dislikes plain soy or rice milk, try various flavors; mix it with hot or cold cereal; use it in pancakes or muffins; or blend the soymilk with fruit to make a delicious shake.
• Keep the dishes simple and don't pile on the food. A complicated, unfamiliar dish that covers the plate may seem daunting. Simple finger foods-steamed vegetables strips, crackers, or chunks of cooked tofu-make eating easy and fun for a child.
• Include favorite or familiar foods in a variety of recipes. Cook rice in a mixture of fruit juice and water, or thin nut butter with some soymilk to make a pasta sauce.
• If a child refuses vegetables, try shredding dark green leafy vegetables or carrots and adding them to soups, salads, tomato sauce, or a loaf mix. Mix vegetables with grains and wrap in a tortilla. Or, if your child likes mashed potatoes, add in some finely shredded vegetables, such as zucchini or squash.