• Adults should model proper eating habits
• Make eating a fun time for children
• Offer child a choice between two healthy food options
• As long as child is getting proper nutrition, don’t turn it into a power struggle
• "Picky eating" is usually a phase which will pass, so don’t obsess over it
• Don't use deserts or candies as rewards

Week in Review
Don't forget about the great things that we learned this week:

• Promoting Resilience
• Drawing & Literacy
• Your Child as an Investigator
• Helping Your Child Through a Loss

Does your child refuse to eat anything but peanut butter sandwiches? Would your toddler rather play with his food than eat it? If these scenarios sound familiar, you’re not alone. Picky eating can be distressing for parents. Here’s how you can expand his or her food horizons.

What Age Do Kids Become So Picky?
It’s normal for kids to be picky for a lot of reasons. Number one, they’re kind of learning the rules, and they’re a little rigid in the way they follow the rules. For instance, it’s normal for kids to not want to eat a cracker that’s already broken. Or they don’t want the peas touching the carrots. Kids can become very specific about things. Some kids are really sensitive. They don’t want a texture that doesn’t feel right in their mouths. Kids may be slow to warm up to new foods, just like when they meet new kids, they might be kind of timid at first.

How Do Parents Cope?
First, recognize that it’s normal, and have very modest goals in the beginning. For example, if you want to introduce a new food, such as a new vegetable, you might be better off with yellow vegetables than green vegetables. Green vegetables are a little bitter tasting whereas yellow is sweeter tasting. Our mouths are built to like sweet tastes. So kids naturally gravitate to what’s yellow or orange or red. So start with something like that and start with small amounts.

Encouraging Kids to Try New Foods
If kids are hesitant to even try a new food, what you can do is try to encourage it. Have some food that you know they’re going to want to eat and take a small amount of a new food that you want them to try. Encourage them to have a tiny piece of the new food before they have the food that you know they want.

Eating the Same Food
Picky eaters often just eat the same foods over and over. To make sure they are getting at least some proper nutrients, give them multivitamins and juices, such as carrot juice and orange juice. Another strategy which works well is to invite over a slightly older child who’s going to be more flexible in what they eat. When your little child sees this big kid eating all the different foods, it’s much more compelling because they want to be like the big kids.