Create a Good Food Mood, to Enjoy Meals Together!

Written by Nutrition Educator, Holly Stuhr.

Kids can be really picky eaters. To make your mealtime more enjoyable and less of a battle, set a Good Food Mood with these tips.

#1 Get your little chef helping in the kitchen! Cooking together takes the mystery out of what they are eating. If kids help to make the meal, they will get to know the ingredients. This takes away the fear of the unknown. Plus, they love helping in the kitchen and there is a real sense of pride trying the foods you help to make. Here is a list of age appropriate tasks for kids in the kitchen!

#2 Eat Together! Children learn from what they see you do. So be a really good food mood model. Try new foods together and be positive!

#3 Offer just one new ingredient at a time and serve it with something you know your child likes to eat.

#4 Serve foods in new ways; cooked different ways, separately and mixed into a dish. Variety is the spice of life! Visit the Maine SNAP-Ed website recipe page for kid friendly recipes.

#5 Teach your child how to talk politely about food. Please and Thanks you, and No thank you, and DON’T YUK MY YUM. That means don’t talk negatively about a food- it might be someone else’s favorite. You wouldn’t want them to feel badly about it.

#6 Be patient and don’t give up. Our taste buds are constantly changing and not all tomatoes taste the same. So keep mixing it up!