December 7, 2009 Unleash Your Toddler's Inner Food Critic!
Instead of struggling to get your child to eat new foods, make tasting food fun. Turn your toddler into a food critic.
Tell your toddler that he doesn’t need to eat anything new. Instead, you simply want him to taste and rate.
This strategy works by changing the dynamic around new foods in 3 key ways:
- It's easier for your child to comply because tasting is a less daunting task than eating.
- It teaches your child how to try new foods by asking him to form opinions about different aspects of food (taste, texture, appearance, aroma, temperature) instead of allowing him simply to reject or accept a new food out-of-hand.
- It gets your child in the habit of trying new foods on a daily basis.
Step 1: Help your child make a rating card like this one.
Step 2: Pick 2 new foods that you would like your child to try.
If your child is extremely picky, choose items that are different versions of foods she already eats – different kinds of cheese, or different flavors of yogurt. Stack the deck in your favor by choosing foods you would expect your child to like. As she gets better at tasting new foods you can branch out to include more “exotic” flavors such as a sweet red pepper. (Don’t think your kid will ever touch peppers? Read Turning Your Kids' Taste Buds Around.)
Step 3: Ask your child to taste one of the food items every day.
It is extremely important that you do this everyday because you want the experience of trying new foods to become a common one. If you think your child is up to it, have her taste 2 of the items daily – and compare them.
Ask your child to consider five aspects of the food:
- taste
- texture
- appearance
- aroma
- temperature
Step 4: Have your child rate each food at least 14 times. Keep a log like this of your child’s ratings.
I know 14 times seems like a lot, but if you stop too early, you'll miss the magic mark. Remember, repeated exposure is the key to new food acceptance.
Step 5: Review the log with your child from time-to-time so he can see that his evaluations change.
I know that deep down you probably don't believe your child will ever like a disliked food, but it happens. What's more, most kids enjoy playing the rating game. And as they get more accustomed to trying new foods, they end up eating new foods too. It's all about what they get used to, or their habits.
~ Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits. ~
Reader Comments (9)
I would probably use different words for "aroma" and "texture", but I like this idea, especially the emoticons.
I wonder if asking a child to be a critic doesn't encourage criticism while encouraging trying new things. To me, the thought of trying something new should be exciting and critique involves caution and analysis with a potential focus on finding fault.
From my experience with young kids, using "taste" instead of "eat" is sometimes enough, so this is already a wonderful way of taking the sting out of feeding your child.
Finally, picky kids are often created by a picky parent. Check your own approach to new food and demonstrate trying and tasting. After all, who doesn't want to be like Mommy?
Thanks for your comment. I agree with so much of what you write, but I don't think teaching children to critique food will turn them into negative critics. First of all, whatever kids are thinking or feeling about the food, they're thinking or feeling it already. Having parents engage them in the conversation isn't going to make them "go negative." More importantly, though, kids who can discuss the finer aspects of food don't reject items out-of-hand. Instead, they become more sophisticated about food and eating. When kids and parents talk about different aspects of food - its taste, texture, appearance, aroma, etc. - parents get information they can work with to help their children overcome resistance to new foods. It's so important that, in fact, I believe, if parents were to do nothing more than to start talking about the eating experience (as opposed to the nutritional value of different foods) most kids would (more willingly) eat better than they currently do.
Dina
I tried this with my 4 year old, using face stickers for the ratings. After 5 days he refuses to "play the tasting game" anymore. What do I do now?
Also, how many new foods should we try the first week, and how long of an interval between presenting the same food again? I assume you don't do one food for 14 days in a row, nor wait a month to try a new food a second time...
Tonya,
I'm glad you have been trying this technique. It's hard for me to give you specific advice regarding your son because I don't know your son and I don't know the details of how you are implementing the rating game. However, I would say, if your son doesn't want to play the game on a given day you should say "OK" and then play it yourself. (I hope you've been doing it along side him.) Eventually he'll play again. The key is to NOT give up because exposure is important for new food acceptance.
In addition you should consider what food (or foods) you have been using. I would switch up the foods to include really likable stuff (even foods your son already accepts) so you keep him interested in tasting and describing.
With regard to your question about how many new foods you should try the first week: it depends on what keeps your son interested. I would present between two or three (either at the same time or sequentially) and that way your son can compare.
I know it is a challenge. Some kids are resistant and you have to keep at it so tasting becomes the new routine.
Good luck and keep me posted.
Dina
This was brilliant. I've struggled with what to feed my 5 year old, who is down to about 10 foods. I know it is a control issue, but....
So, tonight I said lets play a taste game. I made happy, unhappy and "meh" faces for each of us ( dad was working late). I gave them one homemade kale chip to try (in for a dime, in for a dollar) and said they only had to taste. They both took a nibble and hated it, but we had fun with the faces.
At snack time (we eat a bowl of fruit before bedtime), I asked if they wanted to play again. Yes! We tried blackberries, blueberries, cottage cheese and tangerines! (all foods he used to eat!). My picky eater tried all four and liked 3! (while my wide ranging eater would not try the tangerine. Go figure.). Wet talked through the different tastes and textures and had a great time!
Can't wait for breakfast I'm thinking fiber cereal and pumpkin bread today, oatmeal this weekend,
Fantastic Anne! I'm so glad to hear about your success.
Two things I would like to remind you about. 1) Make sure you never, EVER, ask your children if they want to eat the food they have just tasted. If they want to eat it they'll ask to eat it. More importantly, though, you don't want them to start refusing to taste because they're afraid they'll be asked to eat.
2) Don't take what they say about liking or not liking the food too seriously. Sometimes a "don't like" is a stand in for "this is weird." So go for the kale chips again (and then later, again). If your kids say they've already tasted it tell them that tastes change, and, that every time you make something it comes out a little differently.
I can't wait to hear how breakfast goes!
Best,
Dina
Hello! Thank you so much for your blog. I love your perspective, and I recommend it to many of the parents I work with, and am planning to blog about it soon. We adapted this suggestion for my 3 year old daughter because she didn't like the faces. Instead, after trying a new food, she gives a thumbs up or thumbs down. We don't make special meals anymore, we don't make a huge deal about food or what she eats. In fact, regardless of her response, we keep our reaction neutral - if she likes it and wants more, that's great, but we don't want her to do it because of our reaction. We give her a tiny piece of whatever we're having and let it be...with the understanding that she can spit it out if she doesn't like it. It was very slow at first. She tried one new thing maybe every few days. Until this week, I told her we were having chili for supper - instead of the usual whiny "what am I going to have?" (which is what we would have done in the past) she said,"I will do thumbs up or thumbs down!" How freeing!
Nicole,
I love the thumbs up or thumbs down adaptation, and I'm so glad to hear you aren't making special meals anymore. Congratulations!!!
Dina