Making a Child Eat

Have you ever faced the situation that your child refuses to eat? If it happens, you must feel very frustrated and search around for solutions. In fact, there are some useful tips for helping you solve this problem:

1 - Bring fun to the table.

Almost every child enjoys festival time, because they have a lot of positive memories about these moments. Thus, you should bring this cheerful atmosphere to your dinner table. You may decorate the table with colorful tablecloth or decorate the plates with vegetables and sauces in different colors.

Besides that, you can cut the food into animal shape. Children love eating animal-shaped cookies, as well as animal-shaped bread or steak.

If your child refuses to eat vegetable, you can bring her or him to the backyard to learn how to plant vegetables. While planting, you may introduce this vegetable to your child, which may stimulate her or his curiosity about it.

2 - Don't be threatened by your child's refusal to the food.

Sometimes the children try to assess their autonomy by refusing to eat. You should avoid being blackmailed by her or his refusal.

If your child refuses to eat, leave her or his plate on table for 20 to 30 minutes. After the time limit, no matter she or he eats or not, you should remove her or his plates from the table without criticism.

3 - Don't force your child to eat.

Serve the food in smaller portions. Let your child choose the quantity of food according to her or his own appetite.

4 - Cut the unnecessary drinks and snacks between the meals.

Too much juice, soft drinks or snacks between meals can reduce the appetite of your child. For similar reasons, it is better to give her or him a drink after dinner and snacks should be served at least 2 hours before the next meal.

The appetite of a child varies from one day to another and even from one meal to another. If she or he eats little or nothing for lunch, you should serve her or him a nutritious snack 2 hours before dinner, in order to give her or him enough energy for studying, having sports or playing, meanwhile you won't cut her or his appetite for dinner.

Besides, remember that: before the age of four, children are more open-minded to new food or flavors. You should enjoy this time for exploring new flavors with your child!