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[quote=Anonymous]Do not make mealtimes a battleground! You're only setting everyone up for bigger issues.

Instead, set a few ground rules. Talk to your MB about implementing them as soon as you've gotten it all sorted out in your head (exactly how you want to do it and so on) to be sure she's on board - I suspect she will be.

First, make trying new foods a fun thing. Laminate some placemats with pictures of new foods on them (7-10 per mat), and get a big pack of stickers - they can mark off each item with a sticker once they've tried it (and these can be recycled - I'd recommend making four per child and using one each week, and starting over at the beginning of each month). Trying a food means eating (chewing and swallowing) one bite of it. When they've filled up their placemat with stickers they get XYZ treat - probably NOT food related, but rather a trip to the swimming pool, a new book, watching a video they enjoy, or a chance to do whatever one of their favorite activities is.

Second, set a limit on how long you're spending at the table. 20 minutes is standard but at this age 30 would be fine if you think that's helpful. If they haven't eaten their food after 30 minutes, remove it and carry on with your day. The only catch here is that they are not allowed any snacking. If they do get hungry later (which they will) they can eat their leftovers from lunch or wait until the next snack or meal that's on your schedule. They cannot eat anything EXCEPT their leftovers between prescribed meal/snack times as set by you/MB.

Third, because you're going to be very strict about not giving them snacks between meals (and I don't mean no snacks, I mean their snacks should be healthy things like fruits and veggies and should be scheduled appropriately, not willynilly when they demand them), make sure that at least 50% of their meals are foods you know they like/will eat. You don't want to starve them, so make sure the new foods are being introduced as smaller elements of a larger meal.

Fourth, show your MB some literature on introducing new foods to kids. Studies show that whether kids like a food is directly correlated to how many times they've eaten it, and the average is around 25 times of eating a food they "don't like" before they realize they do (I can't remember the exact number, but it's in the 20s). Impress upon her the importance of persisting at this now or they will not develop a taste for it when they're older, leading to malnutrition down the line. Be sure to clarify, however, that persisting simply means continuing to offer foods and building a system that rewards them for trying it - not fighting with them about it.

Fifth - any kind of food spitting, throwing, etc. is grounds for a warning and then a time-out.

Finally, do not ever beg or even ask a child to eat something. Remove yourself emotionally from this equation. Let them know your expectations, make the reward system a fun and exciting thing, and then move on.[/quote]

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