Kids Have Fun With Healthy Eating

[Daryn Kagan]

Mom and entrepreneur Leslie Grant has created Chickin Feed nutritional tracking boards. A fun way to get kids to eat healthy without making parents the bad guy.

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[Debby Poe]

I have tow boys, both picky eaters. My 9 year old, (drastically picky) will not eat a single fruit, not even a chocolate dipped strawberry. When he was a baby up until age 2 or 3 he ate everything healthy under the sun. I MEAN EVERYTHING!!!!!! He woke up one day, and it was over. He is so stubborn. I have tried charts with rewards, two nutritionists, serious talks with his doctor with him present and a number of other motivational strategies. Very little progress has transpired. He is healthy and growing rapidly. He rarely gets sick but I'm afraid that this will catch up to him down the road. I think the Chicken Feed chart is a great idea and it teaches the different food groups, however, how do I get him to branch out and actually TASTE new things? I'm a professional chef and I still can't get this kid to budge. I do manage to hide some healthy ingredients in his food as the Sneaky Chef Book suggests. I'm going to try your chart. Wish I knew about it when he was 4. I'll definitely pass this on to my friends with young children. Debby P.

[Sandra Keros]

I feel for you that even your best chef expertise can't budge your little guy - how frustrating! Kids have so little "control" I wonder if you involve him in the process that it will pique his interest and willingness to experiment. For instance when at the store or farmers market you could play a rainbow game such as, "how many red vegetables can you count? which one would you like to try for dinner tonight?" and try different colors on different days. Another game while at the farmers market could be, "where does this vegetable come from? how does it grow?" and have the farmer help you answer. Do you involve him in the dinner making process itself? I wonder if involving him more in the process will get him to be more invested and therefore interested in trying out what he picked out himself. I'd love to know how the chart works for you too.

[Erin]

My oldest son and my youngest daughter were SO picky as little ones. My son still is, at nearly 20 - my daughter though, thank goodness, outgrew her pickiness. I'm no good with charts, I'm a disorganized air head LOL. But I do think if I'd have tried something like this when my oldest son was little, he might eat healthier now...