Creative Ways to Get Your Child to Try New Foods

"No" and "I don't want that" are every child's favorite things to say at the dinner table. For a parent, few things are more stressful than having a picky eater. In addition to either having to be comfortable eating the same handful of things on a regular basis or making an entirely different meal for your child every night; you also have to worry about whether or not your child is getting enough nutrition. While bribing, begging, and losing your mind are all part of the process – here are some other fun and creative ways to get your child to try new foods.

Make it the First Thing Available When Your Child is Really Hungry

Chances are pretty good there are activities or certain times of the day that make your child really hungry. Maybe it is when he or she comes home from school? Maybe it is after he or she has played outside? Maybe it is first thing in the morning? Whenever that prime time where your child eats a good meal is, have a new food ready for your child to taste first. Your child will be so hungry during this time he or she might be willing to try the new food without even thinking about it.

Let Your Child Help You Make The Food

Sometimes making the food more fun is all you really need to do to get your child to try it. Pick something your child can help you make and then ask your child to help you make it. It may be helpful to ask your child to help you make food that you and him or her can eat together. Not only is this a great bonding activity, but you can talk to your child about how cool it will be for him or her to eat something he or she made.

Develop a Reward System

Sometimes a little creative bribery is an acceptable way to get your child to do new things. Consider setting up some kind of system where your child has a chart in the kitchen. On this chart, your child can earn stickers for trying new food. Then, you can set up a list of rewards where so many stickers earn your child a reward.

Another option is just to use money. While it is easy to bribe your child with a little money to try a new food, it could be more fun to use play money. If your child earns play money by trying new food, you could set up a "store" with candy, toys, and other goodies that your child can purchase with the play money. This can be a great way to teach your child other skills while getting him or her to try new foods.

As you can see, there are a lot of fun and easy ways to get your child to try new foods. Just remember to make sure your child is actually hungry or he or she is less likely to be willing to try something new. This means you need to work on having set meal times instead of letting your child graze on snack foods all day. Doing that with the tips above will make all the difference in the world when it comes to your child's willingness to try new foods.Enter your text here ...