I'm always trying to think up new ways to encourage Audrey to eat more fresh veg and fruit. We've really turned a corner with the fruit - she used to hate it all! But now she likes apples and oranges, sometimes blueberries and sometimes grapes (only red). I read that little ones have to try something up to fourteen times before they know if they like it or not, before that they might only have a little taste and push the rest away. That definitely rings true for Audrey!
We try to mix up meals, so that she gets plenty of healthy things that we know she does like, with a few new things to try thrown in from time to time during the day. We never force her to eat things she doesn't like, instead we try to make it a fun, no-pressure sensory experience. If she plays with the food? Great! That's a success. She's getting more comfortable with it. If she smells it? That's fantastic! And gradually she tastes it. Or not. And that's all okay.
Yep, we went out for an anniversary lunch, just me and Ian and Audrey. Yum!
We keep offering foods periodically, even if she doesn't seem to like them at first. We have fun with them.
One of the things we do, something I picked up when I was a Montessori nursery teacher, is have a healthy snack and a drink set out on Audrey's table throughout the day, which she can help herself to whenever she wants. Some favourites are apple slices, breads sticks, oat cakes, raisins, cucumber and celery. Her drink is always water, and she likes it best with a straw.
The water frequently gets spilled. But hey, it's just water. And she learns best when we let her make mistakes. The snack gets removed about an hour or so before a meal.
Today I had the fun idea of putting some chopped up sticks of celery - which Audrey really likes, carrot - which she kind of likes, and red pepper - which, so far, she hasn't liked, into a wine glass. Normally she's not allowed to use/play with the wine glasses, for obvious safety reasons, but she loooooves them. So today I layered the veggies up in one for her special snack (with lots of careful supervision).
Guess what? I hadn't even grabbed my camera to take a pic when she was already grabbing bits out of the cup and eating them!
I want to make it a special mission to get Audrey more involved in preparing our family's food. She loves to stir things as I'm cooking, and to help drop things into bowls and pans.
Audrey can use a fork and a spoon, with a little guidance/supervision, and she clearly feels such a sense of accomplishment when she uses them that sometimes all that's needed to encourage her to try something is simply to put it on a fork and let her have fun! Of course, sometimes forks are just too tricky and that spaghetti needs to get in your mouth right away...
What's your tip for encouraging people in your family to try new foods?
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