What to you do......

[Peikko 1,575]

I have a 7 year old, who luckily for me is not really a fussy eater.

Probably you already do this, but just to say, sitting down together as a family to eat seems to work (especially if everyone is eating the same thing lol).

We always did this when I was growing up. Meal times were never rushed, there was always time to chat and laugh together as well as eat and that is something I try to do now too.

My mum was one of those 'no junk food' in the house types. For her a treat was a garibaldi or on high days and holidays Jaffa cakes . Unfortunately that had the effect of making me crave sweets, or at least that is my perception. It didn't effect my brother that way at all though, so who's to say? Having said that, I always ate my veggies at dinner, the sweet craving was an as "well as", "not an instead of".

I would add that my parents grew most of the vegetables we ate and to this day I prefer veggies to most other foods (ice cream being my only sweet weakness these days ).

I would suggest you try to find a good source of fresh vegetables (farmer's markets are good) as the flavour is much better than supermarket and my family notice the difference

Best of luck with expanding his diet

[JAYKE 0]

What I found worked GREAT for my son was to make him get "hot lunch" every day at school. It helped because (a) he was hungry, and would eat what he was given as there is no alternative, and it's a long time till dinner, and (B) if he sees his friends eating it he will be more tempted to try it. He started to develop new "tastes" for things there, and would be more open to trying things at home.

We went through MONTHS of nothing but fries, chicken fingers and pasta. We're now up to about 15 different meals that pass the test, and still counting.

Good luck!!