In a dinner rut with a picky eater

[Anonymous]

Don't beat yourself up about making separate meals. I tried that with one of my kids and he didn't complain, but he didn't eat, either. He ended up mildly anemic, and the pediatrician told me to lighten up and make the kid a burger if he wanted one.

I was raised in the clean-your-plate era, and my siblings and I don't like the same foods. You can't force tastebuds to change.

What has helped with my kids is having some basic rules:
You need to get some protein and some produce at every meal. If that means dinner is a glass of milk and a banana, fine.

If you don't want (I don't say "like," because I think it's important not to categorize food as "Things I like" and "Things I don't like") what is being served, you can have whatever leftovers appeal as long as you aren't heating them up while I'm cooking.

Food is served on the table -- take and pass. My selective eater was a lot more receptive to new foods if he was deciding to dish it up.

I've found that my kids are much more receptive to trying new food when there are a lot of people around and no one's paying attention to them. The kid I expected to eat only noodles when we had company noticed everyone wolfing down Swedish meatballs and decided he'd give it a go. He'd eaten half a dozen before I even noticed what he was up to.