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[quote=Anonymous]We've had a ton of food battles with my 5 year old. We are doing SO much better, some of which is maturity and some is holding firm and being consistent.

1. Cook family meals, including safe foods. We had stir fry chicken and broccoli last night. At peak pickiness she would have had rice and maybe steamed broccoli, no chicken. Maybe would have "served" yogurt to everyone so she got the chance to choose that instead of chicken for protein. Then I would have cooked her portion separately without the marinade or sauce, but she still would have had the same ingredients plain. Now I marinate the chicken, cook it separately, and add the sauce in last - so she gets marinated chicken and broccoli without the extra sauce. Future goal is everyone gets the same exact thing with the same preparation and amount of sauce. But slowly and steady progress without giving her something special that's not on the "family" menu.

2. If it's something I know she likes that she's being stubborn with, we do the age in bites thing too. I know they say not to bribe with dessert or a screen (ahem, we've done that too), but I'm not Super Woman and sometimes a bribe is a quick way to break a stubborn stalemate and get her trying something.

3. Starting around 4.5 or so, we started talking about how not all foods we eat are always our favorites, but we eat them anyways. If that works well, you can specify foods you really dislike from those that you just don't prefer, and acknowledge that tastes change, but it's okay not to try something you know you genuinely don't like right now. This is a maturity thing and does not work with younger kids. They are just too rigid thinkers to appreciate the nuance and actually change their behavior based on that.

It's definitely easier to just make separate kid friendly meals for your kids, be that nuggets from the start or cereal when the meal is rejected. No judgment as long as your kid is eating a well balanced diet (for regular kid pickiness, not talking about kids with genuine sensory issues or medical condition level aversions), but we have an only and want a kid that can eat what's offered when we're travelling and eating out, so it's a hill we're willing to die on.

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