3 Daring Strategies to Get Your Kid to Eat Healthy

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If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you’re interested in getting your child to eat healthy food. I’m sure you’ve tried various things already. You don’t need me to tell you to arrange the food into funny characters or picturesque scenes, make fruit into smoothies, or to blend veggies and include it in soup or something. Those tips are everywhere!

I’m just going to cut right to the chase and give you 3 daring new strategies and explain why they are effective based on behavioral research.

So let’s talk about helping your child to even get to the point of trying healthy snacks. Some kids will look at the food and throw it, some will cry when they see it, some might take a bite and then spit it out, and some won’t even sit near it. Others are master compromisers or arguers and will wear you down over time. What an adventure! Regardless of which child you have, you’ve gotta meet them where they’re at. There’s no getting around it. I’m going to suggest a few behavioral strategies below that you can incorporate into your routine to help you reach your goals for your child. You know your child best and can determine where to start based on where they are with their tolerance right now.

Just Remember To Be — C O N S I S T E N T — With Whatever You Choose. You’ve gotta give it a few weeks for behavior change to happen :)

Strategy 1:

  • Give them 2-3 non-negotiables. Non-negotiables are foods they do not want to even consider trying and you will agree not to work on. You know you’ve got a few of your own.

    • Behavioral break-down: in a world where they don’t have much control depending on their age, giving them this choice will help give them some control over the concept and will increase their willingness to work with you on other things.

Strategy 2:

  • Desensitize over time working with the senses. This works fairly well if you make it into a challenge or strategy and include them in it. You can have a dry-erase board where you plan it out with your child or draw it on paper and check it off as you go! The more elaborate you make it the better it works with some kids.

  • This strategy would include some of the following things that you would work on one at a time: smelling different new foods (make sure to incorporate ones they will like in addition to new ones you’re not sure about), licking different foods (can easily turn this into a competition or game to see who can lick more pieces faster, how close can they get with their tongue without touching it, etc.), talking about the different food textures and which you both like and don’t like, which foods make loud sounds when you eat them, and which foods are more colorful (you could make a rainbow for this exercise). It’s more effective if the foods are at hand and can be brought out and touched and manipulated as you talk about them.

    • Behavioral break-down: it’s most effective to desensitize a person by exposing them to things they don’t like little by little (systematic desensitization). Don’t move on to the next step until they can participate in the current step without running away or whining. They need to participate by their own choice in order for that step to be considered “mastered.”

  • Important note: this strategy doesn’t work for every child. If you have a child that shuts down and refuses to eat anything if you’re all looking at them, making a big deal about it, and the pressure is on, this strategy will not be effective. It’s best to just lay out new food with the food they eat consistently on their plate and not say anything at all or look at them. over time, they may become interested if you continue to switch it up and present it in new ways and they may choose to try it on their own.

    • I’ve also tried Strategy 1 with these kids and it has been successful in some cases. Every child is different, so don’t be afraid to swap out strategies if you’ve tried the same one for 4 weeks and it hasn’t been effective.

Strategy 3:

  • Make cooking and having them try food as you cook a consistent scenario (once a week) in your home. Name it: Freakishly Fun-Food Friday, Surprising Food Sunday, Wacky Food Wednesday— get creative and excited about it! Let them contribute suggestions and incorporate foods they love every once in a while to treat them.

    • Behavioral break-down: the key scientific term behind this is “habituation.” You get used to something and don’t even notice it that much if you’re exposed to it often. That’s the idea with this strategy. It’s not a big, bad deal if cooking and trying new foods is something they are used to interacting with consistently over time as long as you don’t push them too much (see strategy 2— desensitize over time for different levels of involvement (maybe they just start out watching you and not participating, then increase participation over time)).

I call these strategies daring because it takes bravery to commit to a strategy consistently over 4-6 weeks. Habits are not built over-night and being brave enough to put in the work consistently is not for the faint of heart. I know you will be brave to trust the process and do what you know you have to do to reach your goals for your child. And I’ll be here for you if you have questions! I’m more than happy to help with whatever small quirks pop up because every child is different and something always comes up to challenge us. Don’t hesitate to comment here or message me if you need anything!

Once you’ve put one or more of these strategies into place, you can check out this video on hw to maintain them.

— Tania Henderson, MS, BCBA, LBA-VA