Methods in making children who are picky eaters, love foods

Cyprus International University (CIU) Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics Acting Chair and President of the Cyprus Turkish Dieticians Union Dr. Ayşe Okan, stating that parents are finding it difficult to make their children choose foods, went on to say, “This problem becomes even bigger when children’s communication with the social environment increases and/or they begin school/nursery”.

Explaining that she mostly receives responses from parents such as ‘I can’t feed my child vegetables’, ‘My child will not eat fish’ and ‘when I give my child yoghurt, they spit it out’, Okan gave advice to parents in relation to their children making healthy choices.

Expressing that first of all, the children should be approached as individuals, Dr. Okan added that according to research data, when children are treated as though they are grown-up individuals, it makes them feel as though they are important.

Stating that for this reason, when a parent would like for their child to eat a certain food, first of all, they should explain to their child that they know they should eat this food because the food in question is a healthy food, Okan continued, “For example, we should tell the children that in these foods are vitamins that will protect them from illnesses”.

Emphasizing that we need to give our children reasons to choose healthy foods, Okan advised, “We should explain to our children that as adults, even if we do not like the taste of a food, we still eat it as it is good for our health”.

Pointing out that in the event a child does not like a food, immediately providing them an alternative is a wrong thing to do, Okan went on to state, “In actual fact, doing this gives the child the message that should they dislike a food, another meal can be prepared for them. Later, children may use this as an excuse, and they may reject a meal they would normally eat”.

Giving advice in relation to the methods that can be applied to make children love foods, Okan concluded, “You can put foods children do not like into the shape of their favorite characters. For example, if they love dinosaurs, you can tell your child a story about dinosaurs, and that dinosaurs are very big and strong animals because they get their strength from the vegetables that they eat”.