Don't forget to make your meals look yummy!

Be sure to make the food look appealing and familiar. We all eat with our eyes, noses, and taste buds, so making the food look good, smell good and taste good is as important to you as it is to your child. Cutting up foods into bite sized pieces so that they are easy for your little ones to eat is also important because then they can choose and eat what they want. Serve the meal with something that you know they like, i.e. over rice, mixed into pasta or stewed together with fruit. These little tricks will make the meal more accessible to your child and help them make the choice to eat the new foods!

Getting your kids involved!

Get your children involved in the cooking process and make it an interactive experience. Children LOVE to help and there are tons of things they can do in the kitchen, no matter what their age is! Getting them in the kitchen not only teaches them mathematics, sensory development, and social group skills but instills a sense of pride about the meal and will make them excited to eat it!

Make the meal a fun learning experience. If you are trying my "Guatemalan Pollo en Pina" recipe, then take some time to get out a world map and find out where Guatemala is, look up what pollo en pina means in a Spanish dictionary, or download some fun music from that region! Learn about the culture of the region you are going to eat and talk about what new foods you are going to try.

Making mealtimes fun and enjoyable is key to having success at the dinner table. If your child is still not willing to try the meal, don't give up! Keep offering healthy and diverse foods and they will learn to eat those foods! Don't try to use force, bribery or threats to get them to try their food either-- these techniques usually backfire and can cause stress and fear in your children that can lead to anxiety about eating.

Lead by example!

Establishing healthy eating habits needs to start with you! Children learn best from example, at any age. The best way to do this is by eating together: they see you trying different foods, enjoying healthy ingredients and eating proper portion sizes. Even if you do not like something or are a little picky yourself, try not to let your children know: picky adults will have picky little ones! Eating together also gives your family invaluable quality time to learn table manners and social communication skills!