A common mistake with fussy eaters

I have spoken to many parents who get in touch because when they go away on holiday it really shines a negative light on their child’s eating. In fact, it may not even be a holiday, it may be a restaurant, or the neighbours, or a relative’s house.

Often, when we’re at home, we make all sorts of accommodations for our child. Unfortunately, this is a common mistake with fussy eaters. Over time we stop even being conscious about how much we are compromising.

Being in a new environment, especially when surrounded by friends or relatives, suddenly shows us how far from “ideal” our child’s eating is.

Turning around that common mistake with fussy eaters

When we do make these compromises we are accidentally often hindering rather than helping our picky eater. My advice is always to ask ourselves “are we enabling or are we supporting” in any situation regarding our child and their fussy eating.

Is what we’re doing enabling our child to continue being as fussy around food? For example, if we have a child who loves Cocopops and we serve that every morning, this reinforces their fussy behaviour. Especially if they are also able to eat Weetbix but just prefer the Cocopops, for example (who doesn’t prefer chocolate!)