Five Funny Ways to Get Your Child to Eat

Kids are strange little people. They really are; and you cannot say they’re not. I have four of them. Each one is different and unique, and each one has a very distinct personality. One of my kids refuses to eat anything but carbs (goldfish and pancakes, please!) and another becomes outraged when we go into the supermarket and head to the bakery for a cookie for our carb-aholic. She wants green bell peppers from the sub shop in the deli – so she gets them. The twins just turned 1 and they’ll eat anything we give them, anything they find on the floor while their big sisters are eating and most anything else they can fit in their mouths – food or not. But what’s strange about kids is not their eating habits; it’s their eating beliefs. With that said, we have some very unique, fun and amazing ways to get your kids to eat. Believe me when I say that most of them will work wonders with your kids (and no, it’s not nice to lie to anyone, but good health trumps lying to a toddler, okay?).

Tell Them it’s Frosting

One of my kids will NOT eat spaghetti sauce on her pasta, so we tell her it is frosting. She loves pasta and frosting. And I recently saw another mother mention this on the internet somewhere, and I LOVE that I’m not alone in it.

Tell Them Not to Eat It

Our carb-lover will not eat anything we tell her is delicious. So we get her to eat fruit by telling her it’s disgusting. Don’t eat that; that’s not good for you. It’s so gross. Ew. She loves apples – we have to eat them in private where she can’t see us since we make such a big deal about how gross they are.

Tell Them it’s for Adults Only

Now, this is not going to work with beverages or you’re going to find a kid drinking a bottle of wine – and then what will you drink? But it does work with kids and food. We tell our carb-aholic that edamame is for adults only. She loves it – and she thinks it’s a special treat.

Offer it up for Breakfast

My parents did this to me. I didn’t love veggies back then, but I sure ate them. If your kids refuse to eat their healthy food at dinner, just nonchalantly package it up and put it in the fridge with a very casual mention of how it will be for breakfast tomorrow; or lunch if they’re not hungry for breakfast. I’m pretty sure my mom would never actually have made us eat our peas for breakfast, but the thought was so terrifying that we just ate them then and there.

Hide It

There’s nothing more fun than hiding healthy food in foods your kids like and then watching them eat it like it’s the best thing that ever happened to them. It’s even more fun to wait until they’re done to tell them what they ate. It’s a parenting win.

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