Reply to When did your kid-food-liking kid start becoming an adventurous eater?

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[quote=Anonymous]I never thought I would be a parent who offers dessert after every dinner, but we sort of fell into using small after-dinner treats as an incentive to get the kids to try new foods and eat more quickly than they otherwise would.  It moved us from dinners that felt like major warfare to dinners that are more of a negotiation.

I don't force the kids to eat things they don't like, except that they have to try two bites of whatever is presented that night.  My eight year old has learned to politely say she doesn't care for something and leave it on her plate after trying it.  My five year old protests loudly at times, but often ends up liking stuff that he swears he won't.

When they don't like something after trying it and choose to pass, they know they won't get dessert unless they eat a full meal's worth of whatever else is on the table (e.g. double servings of vegetables) or a stripped-down version of whatever was rejected (e.g., a meat with the seasonings or sauce scraped off).  Pasta and other starches, without a protein and/or veggie, will not get them dessert, and they don't get the option of a separate "kids" entree.

I think the key is to make trying new things a core family value and to lower the perceived risk with a two-bite rule, so they don't get locked into entrenched ideas about what they will and won't eat.

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