If you’ve got a little fusspot in your house, you’ll know all about how heart-wrenching it can be to get them to try anything new.
We’ve been there, fretting they’re not getting enough nutrients in their diet; the panic that they’re going to fall sick; and the frustration at throwing good food in the bin. Oh, and then there’s the time you spend cooking a favourite meal, only to be met with a, “I don’t like that any more.” Sigh.
So, with this in mind, we bring you a few failsafe tips for tipping them in the right direction. Make it fun and frivolous for them and you:
1 Put their lunch in a muffin, cupcake or ice tray
Pop colourful foods from all the food groups into a tray. It makes them feel like they’re in control of which food to try and when, plus it’s visually stimulating for them.
2 Make everything a ‘mini’
Think pint-sized versions of everything to add a bit of cool-factor to their meals. Think miniature sandwiches, hamburgers, sausage rolls, wraps. Start cutting.
3 Pick up some bright or novelty toothpicks
Then pop them on anything. Literally. Adding toothpicks to fruit pieces, cheese pieces, toast, anything, guarantees more fun, which guarantees more mouthfuls.
4 Make food fun again
Make pictures with your food. Bread can be cut into animal shapes; berries magically turn into flowers; cucumber sticks into grass; blueberries become rabbit eyes; carrots are whiskers. Peanut butter and honey or Agavé syrup are great glue for sticking food together.
