1. Involve your children in meal preparation. By allowing your preschooler to take part in meal preparation, you may help increase your child’s interest in a new or unfamiliar food.
2. Include at least one of your child’s preferred foods. Offer a choice of foods. The meal should have at least one food that you know the child will select and eat.
3. Offer foods with a variety of colors and textures. This will create interest and increase the number of foods your child will accept.
4. Use child-size food portions. One way to consider portion sizes is to have one tablespoon of each type of food for each year of the child’s age.
5. Play it safe with foods that cause choking. Round cuts of hot dogs, cherries, grapes, carrot chunks, tortilla chips, peanut butter, or nuts may cause a child to choke. Simply cut hot dogs into four pieces lengthwise; cook and mash carrots; cut grapes and cherries into fourths. Don’t serve peanut butter by the spoonfuls, combine it with other food items such as jelly or diced canned peaches to improve consistency. Nuts and chips should be cut finely or crushed.
6. Expect and tolerate child-like table manners. Let a child be a child. Show children your own good table manners. Children are always learning from your examples.
7. A comfortable eating environment is important at mealtime. Select chairs, tables, dishes and silverware suitable in structure and size for the preschooler.
Providing a routine such as washing hands and talking about how the foods offered during the meal fit into the food guide pyramid help a child get ready to eat. Do not expect a young child to sit still at meals; yet some reduction in activity is desirable. A child may be excused from the table if finished or disinterested in eating.
8. Serve meals and snacks on a consistent schedule. Try to schedule meals before your child becomes overly hungry, tired or irritable. Most children require planned nutritious snacks to safeguard an adequate intake of nutrients and calories.
9. Offer a variety of healthy foods and children will eat what they need. Remain calm if your child leaves a portion of an entire meal untouched.
10. Mealtime is a good family time and a time to teach nutrition by example.
11. Good eating habits that preschoolers learn from their parents and caregivers can develop into lifelong patterns.
