To the chagrin of moms Edit this text of children are very picky eaters.   While you won’t find that they have much trouble eating hamburgers , pizza or French fries, you will see that they won’t touch a healthy vegetable or a fruit if their life depended it.  This often leads to a veritable food war, causing a lot of stress and despair between parents and their children.  Most parents would be happy to have children who consumed a plethora of food and don’t always require special meals.

It is a critical that you fix a picky eater, no matter how hard it may be.  While as a parent you may do it initially to make your life easier , there are more critical issues at stake.  Picky eating in childhood can lead to many consequences later in life, like obesity.  Picky eating can be an impediment  to your child leading a healthy and happy life.

Most difficult eaters favor junk food over health food and this leads to lots of problems, like childhood and adult obesity, which can lead to self-esteem issues and serious health problems like diabetes and heart disease .  If your picky eater only eats fruits and vegetables, you may not have to worry about this issue.

But a difficult eater is often an irregular eater, skipping out on the three solid meals and snacks.  Missing meals can lead to gourging on unhealthy options throughout the day, like a fast food blow out for lunch.  Planned meals and snacks help a child regulate their hunger and portion control. Bingeing and irregular eating can lead to obesity since the digestive system can get thrown off track and not properly metabolize all the calories consumed .

Another issue with difficult eaters revolves around the social concerns.  A kid picky eater may find themselves in socially difficult situations, leaving them  uncomfortable at playdates or school – or perhaps avoiding them all together if they have serious concerns with what they eat.   Just as we exhort our children to get over their shyness and fears and get out there, encouraging a child to be a socially happy eater is also important.

As a parent , do yourself a favor and help your child develop a healthy attitude towards food .  Never and keep introducing new foods to her palate – research estimates that it can take up to fifteen times for a child to become   acclimated to with a new food.  And of course, set a good example yourself.  Snack on healthy food, eat your veggies and get happy over salads.   Curing a picky eater will make your parenting life that much easier.