Collect Clues & Eliminate the New-Food-Blues

Have you ever thought about teaching your kids how to try new foods?  Probably not.  Most of us just plunk down some new delicacy and ask our kids to try it.

But putting something into your mouth when you have absolutely no idea what to expect takes a lot of guts, or a lot of blind faith, or both.

Take the fear out of new foods by teaching your tot to become a detective. 

Collecting clues about new foods -- what they look like, smell like, feel like -- will eliminate the New-Food-Blues by teaching your children how to predict what something will taste like.

See Look Into My Crystal Ball  and It's Gross and You Can't Make Me Eat It! for more on this topic.

Collecting Food Clues Step 1:  Have your children look at a new food and then ask them the following questions (no touching, tasting, or smelling yet!):

• What does this food look like?  Look for answers that include its color, other foods that are similar as well as answers such as “a worm,” “a brain,” “gross.”

• Do you think the food makes any sounds or is it completely quiet? Some foods crackle, others sizzle, others only make noise when you eat them.  What do you think about this food and why?

• What do you think this food will feel like? Will it be gooey, sticky, soft or hard?

• What do you think the food smell like?  Do you think it will have a strong or weak smell? Will it smell like any other food you have ever eaten? Will it smell like a flower or dirty socks?

• What does the food remind you of?  Answers can include other foods as well as places and experiences (parties, school, last year’s vacation).

• What do you think it will taste like?  Will it be good or bad? Why?

Collecting Food Clues Step 2: Let your children touch, taste and closely smell the food.  Ask them the following questions:

• Now that you’ve touched the food, what does it feel like?

• What does it smell like?

• What does it feel like?

• Did you guess correctly about this food or were you surprised?

Practice prediction with your children as often as you can.  It will reduce their anxiety about new foods and get them sampling lots of different stuff.

You may not increase how much your kids actually eat at first, but you'll get them used to trying new foods -- and that's more than half the battle. Don't worry about finding the perfect food.  The more your children are exposed to new tastes and textures, the wider variety of foods they'll eventually eat.  Guaranteed.

~ Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~