Some kids are just happy to snack on carrots, raw peppers, hummus, guacamole, while others are very much happy to follow with a carb-based diet such as pasta, rice and bread. You are probably wondering why some kids are picky and fussy when it comes to food.
Turns out that there are a number of dizzying reasons your child may turn down food at mealtime. A recent study conducted by the University of Bristol, Children of the 90’s study, looked at kid's eating habits and patterns.
The study found that picky eaters, fussy and choosy eating habits are linked to and are influenced by personality traits, to parental control, to social sways, and even to maternal eating behaviours. But let’s not get too rocket science here, because we can all agree that it could also mean that these kids are well, just being kids.
The good news is picky and fussy eaters are typical in young children. According to Lee Gibson, PHD, a Biopsychology and Director to Clinical and Health Psychology Research Centre at the University of Roehampton in London, says that overreacting and applying a strict mealtime regime to discourage the kids being picky tends to be counterproductive.
Lee says, all it takes is for parents to present a positive outlook when offering food to kids. In other words, show kids how much you love food and how much fun eating can be - especially when you want them to eat something that may seem unappealing to them.
Having that in mind, we rounded up 10 tools in the kitchen we think you can use to manage fussy eaters.
|1. Turn the Dinner Table into Jurrasic Park (with Tacos)
Image: @eatwhatweeat
Make mealtime fun. The presentation of your meals can sometimes break or make your meal. For the kids, it is sort of like getting an investor to buy into your idea. The idea that the food you are serving them is delicious and that the idea that it is healthy to eat. But how do you do that? We would recommend going with making mealtime fun!
Letting them feel in control
Use the Tricerataco Holder to allow the kids to feel in control and decide what ingredients go into which taco. It’s perfect to get them involved in prepping the food they are about to eat. The taco holder is also easy for little fingers, which helps to avoid the tacos from breaking and for the ingredients to stay in place.
Read: Triceratops Add a Whole New Level to Taco Tuesday
|2. Sneak in H20 into your Kid's Juice
If you have kids, we are pretty sure they don't drink enough water. They jump and run around like wild animals for hours and get very thirsty after, and yet, they want juice instead of water.
The Kids Zinger Pink Water Bottle is a great way to sneak in water for kids who will only drink juice. This water bottle has taken the citrus-infused technology and reduced it to kid-size. This is so drinking water won’t be so much of an effort because you can add fruit flavours into the water.
|3. Honey, I Shrunk the Muffins
When your loyal “customers” are tiny, it’s best to have their tummy size in mind. Your mini-mes will surely appreciate it! Mini muffin makers are fantastic for baking tiny treats for younger children. It's easy for them to grab and snack on, and believe it or not, they will surely finish the muffins without feeling too overwhelmed.
We have a wide range of muffin makers for you to choose from. Some are made of silicone, making it bendy and allows for easy food release while others are made of heavy-duty carbon steel like Mastercraft's Non-stick 12 Cup Mini Muffin Pan. Aside from
Le Creuset,
Mastercraft, other customer favourite brands are
D.Line,
De buyer and
Wilton.
- De Buyer Silicone Mold 15 Cup Mini Muffin
- D.Line Silicone Bakeware Mini Muffin Pan
- Le Creuset Toughened Non-Stick 12 Cup Mini Muffin Tray
- Tala Performance Mini Muffin Pan 24 Cup
- MasterCraft Silicone Mini Muffin 29x20 cm
- Wilton Recipe Right 12 Cup Mini Muffin Pan
|4. Bento or Bust.
Did you know a child on average must be exposed to a new food at least 10 to 15 times before they become comfortable tasting it? Every kid, even with limits to their palates, know that its way more fun to see main meals and snacky stuff sectioned neatly in compartments; versus everything jumbled up together like a big blob on a plate. You may think it is not that big of a deal, but to a 3-year-old it can be very overwhelming.
Provide an introduction to new foods
Bento boxes with compartments encourage a balanced diet as well as a comforting way to expose your child to new foods. It once again provides a sense of control allowing the pickier eaters to eat items they are comfortable eating and providing exposure to new foods separately without overwhelming.
Truthfully, at Everten, it’s our favourite way of eating lunch! Bento boxes are absolutely popular with the school-aged-crowd. You can fill compartments with cheese cubes, fruits, pretzels and so much more for work. You never have to worry about your grapes touching the peas or your mini salad serving mixing up with the mini chocolate bars you set aside.
To top it off, some of the best bento boxes that will appeal to kids mostly are those that are either colourful, has cartoon designs or resembles a cartoon character they like.
Take a look at these cute, adorable and fun bento boxes we have for your kids (and you).
1. Penny Scallan Bento Box Park Life
2. Lunchbots Bento Trio Stainless Lunch Container 20.5
3. SugarLab Mini Lunch Box Orange
4. Fuel Food To Go Lunch Box Tropical Blue
|5. Chop-Sticking the Fun into Eating
Turn your little terrors into happy eaters with these colourful and fun beginner chopsticks by D.Line. The chopsticks include removable characters (a boy and a girl) to help the kids hold their chopsticks together, making it so much easier for your little ones to learn the techniques of holding a chopstick.
Constructive play and meal times are definitely a good mix here, especially when the utensils are colourful and functional. If anything, it makes mealtime less of a struggle for you and more eating for the little ones.
If you think your kids are into animal figures, try Fred Munchtime Shark Chopsticks.
1. Fred Munchtime Croc Chopstick
2. Fred Munchtime Shark Chopstick
3. D. Line Kid's Beginner Chopsticks
|6. Let Them Go On a Mashing Frenzy
Even little hands like those belonging to Asher, Everten’s CEO (Chief Eating Officer) can help with baking in the kitchen. Allow your kids to help prepare the bananas to make the muffin, the mashed potato for dinner or the avos for guacamole. Asher is using Dreamfarm Smood Masher. The handle has a soft grip making it easy for him to hold. We can say with authority that it's the perfect way to encourage your mini master chefs to then eat what they help smash.
|7. Let your Vegetables Spiral Out of Control
If you are sick of chopping Zucchini into teeny tiny pieces just to hide it from the kids, Joseph Joseph’s ingenious Spiro 3 in 1 Handheld Spiralizer is now officially your Soul Sistah (or bruv!) We’re telling you, this will save you a lot of time.
This multipurpose kitchen gadget has a soft grip lid allowing you to turn it easily to 3 different types of blade, all varying in thickness. This spiraliser will surely spruce up your salads and add a fun twist to your kid’s dinner-time favourites.
|8. Kids, Take a Crack at It!
There's no denying that kids absolutely love crackers. Unfortunately, a lot of the store-bought crackers are filled with sneaky ingredients where there are extra salt and sugar in them. Which is why making your very own healthy baked vegetable crackers are the next best option if you are looking to feed your kids healthy snacks.
One of our go-to tool to make cute and adorable crackers is the Ironchef Cracker Roller. It is easy to use with no sharp edges. It cuts through dough seamlessly too. Perfect for making savoury style cracker for kids.
While we're not exactly in full swing for the holidays with, why not give your child a healthy lunchtime treat? Cookies! Lunchbox cookies travel well to school plus, you can incorporate healthy ingredients such as oats, dried fruit and the bright side to this is that you get to control your child's sugar intake. We recommend using
Suck Uk Space Cookie Cutter Space Buggy to give the snacks a character.
|9. Bring Out the “Picasso” in The Family (while Eating!)
These playful placemats are a perfect piece to encourage the kids to eat during dinner. While waiting for parents to finish cooking the meal, kids can get crafty and creative with Mark Mat’s Modern Twist Placemats. They can draw and colour magical and enchanting creatures, or fill in the colours for the characters in the circus.
The placemats are absolutely reusable and the markers are easy to wipe off. Mark Mat is committed to producing products that are made of a 100% food-grade and germ-free silicone. Something we have will always look for in a product, especially when it involves the kids.
Each placemat is silk-screened onto the silicone making it hard to tear. So if you are worried about your little artist hailing terror at the dinner table, you can be sure that these placemats will still be intact for them to draw again tomorrow.
1. Modern Twist Mark Mat Alphabet Animals Kid'S Placemat
2. Modern Twist Mark Mat Circus & Markers
3. Modern Twist Mark Mat Farm Buddies & Markers
|10. A Buffet of Icy Fruity Popsicles
If you have little ones who are having a hard time with daily fruit, perhaps feeding them fruits as popsicles will get them excited. We rounded up our favourite picks on popsicle moulds where some are better suited for smaller kids; because of the size or how well your child grips and hold the popsicle.
Another brilliant time-saving way of making homemade popsicles is by turning left-over smoothies from breakfast or lunch and fill them up into the popsicle mould. Maybe even make ice pops with frozen yoghurt to add healthy bacteria plus calcium, and the necessary vitamins into your child’s diet. It's also a great way to limit your child's consumption of sugar!
Get your kids the
Zoku Ice Pop Moulds in different characters. The Songbird, Owl, Princess or the Hedgehog.
-
Zoku Frog Ice Pop Mould
-
Zoku Princess Ice Pop Mould
-
Zoku Owl Ice Pop Mould
-
Zoku Hedgehog Ice Pop Mould
-
Zoku Safari Ice Pop Mould
An alternative brand you may want to consider is the
Tovolo Groovy Ice Block Maker.
We hope this list of products inspires and will encourage your fussy eater to eat a broader range of foods. Remember - meal time is meant to be enjoyed, so keep it fun and if it doesn't work the first time, calm perseverance and positive encouragement goes a long way.
Have you tried any methods or tricks to manage your fussy eaters? Share with us!
We're inspired by conversations on Everten Love to Cook and we're sharing with you tips and tricks so you can make the best decisions before shopping for cookware.
Everten Love to Cook supports our readers with product recommendations that can help improve lives at home. Prices for products listed above are accurate at the time of publish and prices may be subject to changes.
