Tips To Handle Kids’ Eating Tantrums

Being between 4 to 6 years, is your child throwing tantrums while eating? A Fussy Eater?

You are not alone. He is not the only one. The problem is not uncommon.

It is not even a problem. It may be called a phase in the child’s growing years.

After being introduced to new foods during his toddler stage, he will be able to recognize what he eats, how it tastes, and what all he likes and dislikes.

Tips to Handle Kids’ Eating Tantrums

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Let Him Not Know the Taste First

At 6 months or later, when the child starts his solid foods, keep the taste to the lowest, especially sugar and salt. Let him first learn to eat food and know different types of foods/vegetables/fruits etc., than the taste. This will largely help the child to accommodate himself to eat various vegetables and fruits than adamantly choosing only those tasty foods to his liking.

A child, will anyway, have his choices of dishes and foods as he grows up, but he would definitely learn not to omit or manage to eat to some extent without a stern refusal.

Let Him Have a Say

At 4-6 years and being in nursery/kindergarten, the child would be learning about the names of various vegetables and fruits. Make it an interesting topic at home with real items, talk to them about what are they, why they are good, how they can be consumed.

Also, let him give an opinion on what to be added in the menu for the day. Let him choose a vegetable or two to be included in the dishes prepared and allow him to choose among the fruits which are to be packed in his snack box or make an interesting presentation with shapes/colors/arrangement of fruits or let him do that on his way just as he plays with his blocks.

Let Him Know What He Eats

Some children love potato fries, but not the same prepared in a gravy. He would not even know it is his same favourite potato.

Same vegetable can be cooked in many ways, some baked, some roasted, some fried, some raw, some as a stuffing, etc., Let him know how a vegetable he knows as a raw item can take a new form. This will help him introduce to consuming the food in different forms, more of recognizing the food item rather than the taste it has in a particular dish.

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Let Him Take It or Leave It

Don’t sit next to him and pester him to eat/finish the food. In your normal daily conversations with the child, explain him that he is growing up and needs a lot of strength which requires eating good food.

When he fusses about food at the dining table, try hinting the same about “Growing up” subtly and it is up to him to make the choice to “Take It” or “Leave It”.

Let Him Eat With You

“The family eats together, stays together” is more than just a saying for many reasons. Eat together as a family. Together is not possibility sometimes, then make sure at least you join him during his eating.

The child takes in a lot of what the elders in the family are “DOING”. This will not just help to eat more and eat right, but also help build his dining habits.

Let Him Not Be a Topic of Discussion

Don’t keep talking about how much eats and what he eats, especially with outsiders. You know what he is doing, work it out between you and your child.

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Few Quick Home Remedy Tips To Help Increase Hunger in Children

• Sprinkle a few drops of lemon over the child’s favourite dish (so that he doesn’t refuse to eat that). Later, you can have him coming to you asking for food himself. The sourness helps in increasing the appetite.
• Adding a little quantity of dry ginger powder to dishes again helps in boosting the food intake.
• Dry roast a little quantity of pepper and cumin seeds, coarsely grind them. Mix it with hot rice along with ghee.
• Dry roast carom seeds, add it in hot rice along with ghee.

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Happy Parenting!!

Ashraf Hameeda T