How do you get a child to eat healthy foods?

A child will NOT starve his/herself. If she won't eat, fine, there is no reason to let her get away with the bad behavior. Tell her, fine, you don't have to eat, but you do have to sit quietly at the table while the rest of us eat, and NO, she's not getting what she wants, what is on the table is what there is to eat. the problem is that she has been accommidated in the past, and unless he is now the primary parent, and not just the visitation parent, she's not going to learn to eat the good foods if his ex is still fixing these seperate meals for her. That is the problem, after all, if it hadn't started it wouldn't be a problem now.

I'm having the same problems with my little girl. But one thing that I know for sure. A hungry child will eat. And, there's another rule in my house. If you have room in your tummy for cookies then there's room for real food. That means if you are hungry enough to ask for a snack, then you have more than ample capability to eat real food. I am still struggling with her over food. I am carefully weaning her off junk food and back onto yogurt and fruit as snacks. It's tough getting kids to eat good foods in this day and age when they are exposed to McDonalds on every commercial break and when these fast food places have little food kiosks in every school cafeteria. One thing that I am going to do in my own situation is to buy a juicer from Power Juicer. It's about $100, but some people swear by it. They say that you can put a day's worth of fruits and vegetables into one glass of all natural juice. No additives and no fillers. I think that will help my spouse too (and me) as we are in need of losing weight. So maybe juicing would help with your family. As for me, I have turned to sneaky cooking. I put a can of tomatos and even Prego (pureed tomatos) in my tacos and that counts as a fruit/veggie serving. I have also included cooked rice; pureed brocolli; chopped carrots and even corn in my tacos. My daughter loves that dish. And she doesn't complain about the veggies. Hope that idea helps. Best of luck! Hope things work out.

I think you introduced in small amounts first. although it's quite difficult to let them eat in large amounts at the beginning since it is new to them. example,in a burger patty instead of ground beef u may use ground chicken mixed with minced carrots and potatoes,the taste would be the same but it is much healthier, u may include one pc. of fruit every meal as a dessert. as a snack u may give them carrot sticks. You may also include it in soups.

You have made a very valid point and I also face the same problems, now a days kids have become very choosy and do not settle for all the vegetables. However, it is imperative that they must be fed vegetables, pulses, eggs and chicken etc. so that they should get necessary nutrients. They could be given vegetables in boiled or some form, which they could consume it.

You're not going to be able to because with her living with her mom and eating what she wants and then expecting her to eat what daddy fixes, isn't going to work. Honestly, it's unfair to the child because both parents are on different pages and that confuses and angers the child even more. I'm with the dad though, in trying to do the right thing but with the mother not helping, he's in a tight tight corner.

I stopped my kids from trying to be picky eaters by telling them that this is what I ahve cooked for tonight and this is what we are eating. I require them to take at least two bites of anything that may be new to them before deciding that they do not like it. If they don't like it the first time, I will eventually make it again with the same two-bite rule. If they really complain about what they have to eat, I am not afraid to let them go without. I think that it is important that my kids know and understand that we do not live in a restaraunt and what is cooked is what they have to eat at that time. So, in my experience, the two-bite rule really works. Often, they may not like it the first time around, but really do like it the next time. My daughter, who is 6 loves junk food. Recently, we made a rule that they can only have junk food on Sunday's and even then, only a limited amount. Every other day, they have to eat healthier snacks such as fruit or yogurt. At first, she complained, but now, she would rather have the yogurt than junk food! Sometimes, we just have to eliminate the bad foods and only have the good ones around. If they get hungry enough, they will eat what is in ront of them.

I have the same exact problem with my son. I try not to force him to eat healthy things because that will just make the problem worse and may cause eating disorders later. (not all the time, but heard of it) If there is nothing "junk" in the house then the children will eventually eat. They will not starve themselves. I get those healthy snacks, 100 calorie packs, low fat, unsweetened, stuff. I am also on a "diet" per se. I have also mixed veggies and stuff into dinner meals and he didn't even notice. Explaining healthy eating to children is like talking to a wall. They do not understand or even care. Fresh fruit, my son will only eat grapes and banana's. Just alittle at a time and have them try different things, different ways of incorporating into the meals, I also have the sandwich maker, pancake puff maker, and things like that to make "fun" eating. Cutting food into shapes, sizes, adding fruit into the pancake puffs. If the kids like peanut butter that is the best place for them to get their protein. If they feel that are not healthy enough, have them give a multivitamin, they have the nutritional drinks also for children. Hope this work.

well, it's just a matter of training your child..so that when he's trained you wont get difficult when he/she's grown up..or try to see a doctor on this case..Doctor could recommend and suggest better about kids health..

Do you add the healthy food into the meal by cooking it yummy so they don't know the stuff that they don't like is in the meal? My mom used to make the meal tasty and added the vegetables that my sister didn't like into it so she doesn't know and ate it.

its not hard to train a baby to eat healthy foods, but when you already put "junk foods" in her plate since she/he is still young, the tendency is he/she will love the taste of it and dont want to eat those "yucky, green leafy vegetables", yes thats how they feel. their tongue wants sweet lollipop instead of carrot, they want ice cream more instead of mashed potatoes. Why because most of the parents already trained or serve foods like that since the very beginning their child open their mouth to eat. i think the best solution is to show to the kid that parents are enjoying the food, have a picnic and experiment how can you make a delicious meals and its nice in his/her eyes. This take some patience.Maybe you can cook using vegetables, slice it very small, mix meat, spices, and wrap it like she/he will be interested like its her favorite hotdog. You can make sweet dips so she/he can like it more. happy mylotting!

The answer is simple: bribery and trickery. When I was a kid my parents hid something in a meatball to get me to eat it. The tricked me into eating spinach because I was a fan of Popeye, lol. In this case your son will have to make a few compromises with his kids. He can't control what happens when they are with his ex but he can set an example for his kids via his lifestyle choices. He just has to look into ways of making healthy choices fun for kids (I have a cookbook from my mom called "Confessions of a Sneaky Organic Cook" that might be a good resource). Kids often can be convinced to try something and discover that they actually like it. When kids see you eating something and enjoying it they are naturally curious since you wouldn't eat something that was nasty. Talk is cheap and actions speak louder. Save your breath and look for kid friendly recipes.

This can be difficult.I have two children of my own. I think at 7 years old talking to them about eating healthy is not going to work. I had to gradually turn all of my food around into healthy eating and change how I offer food to my kids because I want them to grow up knowing what and how to eat. We still eat McDonald and pizza but only on Fridays or Saturday's. This is something for them to look forward too. My kids don't have any opinion on what they can eat during the week. Even know when we go the store my 7 year old may ask me to buy a candy for her.Now it's not a problem when I say no. But At one time this was a big problem, I couldn't go into the store without her wanting me to buy some sweets. But I just said NO,I was demanding. She cry's but I just use to let her cry until she finish. she's hungry so when she gets home I offer her a apple or orange. On weekends kids normally like ice cream,I buy fat free ice. They know it's fat free now, but at first they didn't know and they still ate. Again I am the one buying the food not my kids. Veggies this was a biggest problem with my son, he would set at the table and would eat everything else but his veggies. What I did was put the same veggies on his plate each night. Some nights he didn't eat them, I don't care how much I told him to eat. finally one night he did eat b/c he saw everyone else eating and I guess he got tried of hearing my voice. lol It's going to be hard at first as they are used to eating a certain way and it tastes best to them. Start gradually, they cant have what ever they want. Tell her to tell them No sometimes and keep offering fruits and let them see that she's eating it also. They will eat not at first but they will.

It really is a problem. Six months ago, I took my daughters from my parents and I have problems with them regarding eating habits. Now that they're living with me, I said a big "NO" to junk foods and fast foods. At first, it was really difficult because the girls would be crying all throughout mealtime. What I did was, I explained to them the benefits of eating healthy foods like fruits, vegetables and the likes. I gave them small pieces first just for them to have a taste of it. I also explained to them that the fruits can make them strong, smart and healthy. I also made an effort to show them the ill effects of junk foods and fast foods such as malnourishment, disease, and weakness. In addition, I told them that I love them and I don't want them to get sick thus I prepare them healthy foods. Now I can say that both are in the peak of health and have really gained weight. All it takes is a bit of patience and more love. You'll get through it.

I started out young with my daughter getting her to eat fruits and vegtables. I use her favorite charcters and superheroes, telling her that is how they got big and strong. We encourage her to eat healthy. We also eat healthy to be a good example for her. We try to limit snakes to on occasion. I think it is imporant to also school them on why it is imporant that they eat healthy with all diseases that now can come from being unhealthy so they undestand why they need to take healthy habits into adulthood.

A child will eat when they are hungry. if all they have in the house is junk food then that is what a child will eat. if they only have healthy foods and are told that is all they will have to eat. The child may sulk , may throw fits but it wont last . They will eat when they get hungry. So the best thing is to not force a child to eat but to serve and have on hand healthy foods instead of junk foods. You cannot force a child to eat. They have to want to eat. Even if they skip a meal or two if they see that all they have to eat is what is before them . They will eventually eat it. just have a variety of foods available for the child. I never foreced my children to eat. We had healthy choices and if they did not want what we had for dinner they would make them selves something else. But not junk.

we feed the child is a problem thing.every parents always think what is food for our little flower.who does understand what my little flower like the food very much.this type things usually is parents so spend energy.in fact,we don't need to all especially food for our children.important we help them have a good used to for every day .i guarantee if the child have the better habit who is going to growp as good as possible .

make him a habbit of sitting at one place & eating . tie him with a chair & dont allow him to get up unless he finishes his food

When I was young my parent taught me how to eat healthy foods. They set a very good example. Informing me the importance of green leafy vegetables. We rarely go to fast food chain, which offer burger, fries and cola drinks.