What can you and/or your center do to promote healthy eating for this child?

            Quinton is a very picky eater and often refuses most foods; therefore, not getting the recommended 1300 healthy calories a day (recommended for his age) is very easily unaccomplished (information from class notes.) To ensure that Quinton, and other picky eaters his age, get the right amount of caloric intake I would keep calm at the dinner table, always offer nutritious snacks, never force them to eat, and find new and interesting ways for them to get involved in the feeding process (Children: A Chronological Approach.)

Children like Quinton, who are picky eaters, can often get turned off of food by being stressed and/or force-fed at the dinner table. With this in mind I would always need to remember that it is important to stay very calm during feeding times and never demand that the child eats. It is also important to always try everything that is given to him yourself, so that you are leading by example and giving him more encouragement to eat his food.

            I would also supply a constant stream of healthy snacks (vegetables, dairy, wheat, fruits, and meat products) and make sure they were always readily available for him to snack on and for the hopes that he would eventually try some of the foods he has, till that point, refused. I would deal with a child like Quinton’s eating habits by making sure that the menu, as much as I could, had lots of healthy choices on it and was following the Canadian food guide for recommended food group intakes making sure to have little fats on the menu. (Diagram below shows the way a plate should look at meal time.) I would also allow Quinton to eat what he liked that was available to him and not limit him to only getting more of what he wanted because he was not eating all of the options in front of him. (i.e. if he likes the vegetable offered not making him eat the soup provided before getting more vegetables because this could turn him off eating all together.) This is very important to do in a childcare center because if the child is forced to eat something they don’t like they are less likely to eat the things they like as well.

            A good way to help picky eaters at home is to allow those curious

Preschooler’s to help you make the meals that you are planning on eating.  Quinton, I’ve found, is much more likely to eat or try a meal if he help put it together. Just getting them to add ingredients to what’s being made or to stir (with supervision) will encourage them to eat it, especially when they get a bit older and start to really get a grasp on what it means to show and feel pride for things they have done.

            Doing all these things is a start to helping picky eaters, like Quinton, not only a start to eating more but to start to enjoy healthier food options.  It can get really stressful when being faced with a picky eater, but its important to remember that the child will not choose to eat if food is being forced down their throat; so remain calm and collected and only begin to worry if the child begins to show signs of malnourishment.

                                                                        (Ontario: Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care)