Parenting a picky eater has the power to turn sane, sensible and serene people into …well, I hate to say this, but into nutcases.  How else can you explain the fact that last night you found yourself attempting to slip (shove?) a spoonful of applesauce into your child’s securely sealed mouth?

The key to solving a picky eating problem is to change your approach. 1) Stop focusing on the food.

You’ll never crack the code with food because as soon as you find the perfect recipe your child will change the game.  Instead, revolutionize how your child behaves in relation to food. Read You Can’t Feed Your Way Out of a Picky-Eating Problem.

2) Figure out what skills your child needs to learn and then teach them.

You have been blessed with a reluctant eater, a control freak, a kid who is extremely sensitive to texture, or some other miracle of nature (a kid who likes to razz you?).  Think of these charming traits not just as irksome behaviors, but also as eating challenges that your child can overcome with the right skill set.  Behind every picky eater is a kid who needs to learn something. Figure out what that is and you’ll be golden. Start sleuthing today. Read It’s Gross and You Can’t Make Me Eat It! Overcoming Resistance to New Foods.

3) Recognize that you may have to change too.

I know it doesn’t seem like you benefit from the current state of affairs (unless you count hair-pulling as a low-cost way to get a haircut), but you do.  Because, let’s face it, your kids wouldn’t eat the way they do if it didn’t somehow work for you too. If it didn’t, you would have reacted to your kids’ eating foibles differently, and they in turn, would have reacted to you differently.  That doesn’t mean it’s your fault—it takes two to tango—but it does mean you may have to change.  Read What’s It to YOU?

~ Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~

Dina R. Rose, PhD,  mom, food sociologist and author of the blog and upcoming bookitsnotaboutnutrition.com where she writes about the art and science of teaching kids to eat right

What questions do you have Dina? Ask below and we’ll be sure to get answers and share them below.