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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Take a look at this:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/05/16/477660671/breaking-down-the-science-of-picky-eating

It can take dozens and dozens of exposure to a particular food before a child might be willing to accept it.  Most parents don't realize this and give up on various foods way to early.

We are still working through this with our children(5 and 8) but from what I have seen, their pallet is much better than their peers and we are at a point where we, for the most part, don't need to prepare special dinners for them, they eat what we eat the vast majority of the time, which also has the benefit of making dinner prep and time easier.
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What kid could be convinced to try something dozens of times?  I never understand this concept.  Kids can see it is broccoli.  They tried it before.  They do not want it.  Maybe a year later my kid would try it again if they forgot about it.[/quote]

You'd be surprised.

We have a 5 yo who is very picky and absolutely hates vegetables. We accept that a lot of kids are like this about vegetables, but we're playing a long game. So she gets a serving of vegetables on her plate every night at dinner. Each month I select three veggies and prep them in advance for her (I obviously can't prep the whole month's worth, but I will chop up three veggies at the beginning of every week) and I put one on her plate every night in a rotating pattern. So like this month it's red bell peppers, spinach, and cherry tomatoes (I know, not technically a vegetable, but the flavor profile is more like a vegetable and that's the thing we're trying to get her to accept). She sees these veggies over and over again. She has to eat one bite to get dessert, and she loves dessert so she does it even though she usually makes faces and says "yuck" and "disgusting" while she does it.

By about halfway through the month, I start asking for her preference instead of just doing a rotation. The last three nights she's picked the red bell pepper, and while she still tells us she doesn't like it, she has been eating it without prompting. AND she has been eating a whole slice, not just nibbling on the end. She still doesn't like red bell peppers, but she's technically eating them anyway. Just the regular exposure helps.

This is also how we got her to eat cucumber slices, and she'll also eat sweet potatoes. Again, she doesn't eat them happily. But she eats them. We only serve them raw or baked with very limited seasoning -- if there is any browning or visible seasoning on it, she won't touch it, even for dessert. Once we start to see some softening in her disgust, we're going to try pushing the envelope a bit with preparations and get her used to that.

My goal is for her to be familiar enough with vegetables that if she was having dinner at a friends house, she could at least eat a few bites of the salad or carrots or whatever they are serving, without freaking out. I also hated veggies as a kid and now I love salad. It's fine if she also doesn't really like vegetables until she's an adult. She just can't be, like, afraid of them, because it's so limiting.[/quote]

Glad it worked for you.  My kids would not be happy to see the food on their plate.  My child easily learned to say no thankyou politely to things she did not like..not to say something like broccoli is yucky.  I guess that was my goal.  I hate the idea of a no thankyou bite.  I am forcing you to keep trying this food you have already tried.  I have foods that I do not like (bananas!).  I would skip the meal rather than take a bite.[/quote]

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