How can i make my 4-year-old son eat nutritious food?

Answer 1

The best way to get your son to eat it, is to see you (and other members of the family) consistantly eating it. Keep offering it to him, every meal offer some fun healthy options. You can try making some neat things out of fruits and veggies...fun shapes or set the food on the plate as funny faces.

Good Luck to you!

Answer 2

ah, the age old debate. The fact of the matter is that there are two things you cannot *force* your children to do, and that's eat and poop. Hence the two big struggles. What you can control is what is in the house, and what is presented to your children. It's important that they learn there is a place for junk food, it's last though, while other things are tasty and better for you.

I would second the suggestions of just presenting it over and over, prepared different ways and all looking appealing. Some of my kids like steamed broccolli with cheese, some like raw with ranch. It's totally an individual choice, and by providing lots of alternatives, it allows them to discover that they DO like veggies.

another thing we did was to stagger the parts of the meal. When one of our kids had trouble eating something, we would present that first at the table, and announce that the chicken wasn't quite done yet, so let's eat our green beans first. Without the option, it was quite a bit easier for them to eat the least favorite food. Again, if they ask for seconds, in our house, it's seconds of everything, not just mashed potatoes or chicken strips.

Remember too, that a four year olds serving size is about a third of an adults. So while a grown-up needs a full cup of broccolli to be a serving, a child only needs a third of a cup. It is more appealing as well when you aren't being presented with an overwhelming amount of food. good luck

Answer 3

You can't force him to eat anything, but there are ways to sneak the good stuff in. Veggie milk shakes can be good and are good for you. There are lots of things to do if you have a blender. If he will eat meat loaf, which is simple and can be nutritious, use V-8 instead of water to mix it. Add more V-8 on top when you cook it to keep it moist, too.
Make it fun. Bugs on a log? - celery stick with peanut butter and raisins on top.
I had a son that loved dinosaurs, so we ate dinosaur food. I made up name for everything -
Good luck and have some fun .

Answer 4

Try to be fun with what you make....bright foods like brocolli cut up really small with cheese on it is very colorful and as long as everyone is eating it too they think that its cool. Tell them that they have to eat what you and the rest of the family are eating if he wants to be a big boy otherwise he is still being a baby and needs to eat baby food. Try cutting all of the extra junk out of your house so that it isn't even in sight!! Keep limited amounts of sweets and be careful which ones are in the house and put them where he doesn't know where they are~ Try using cookie cutters for cutting things like toast, sandwhiches, grilled cheese etc. They look more fun than what you are eating! Be creative is all I can say and make eating healthy seem fun not more work! Example is also a big thing.....if he likes to copy you and others already....try reverse psychology on him. You can't have mommys food because its not good for you or because its healthy food. Mommys only get to eat this little boys have to eat ....whatever it is that he is eating. Hope this helps!!!

Answer 5

Have your whole family eat nutritious foods you want your 4 year old to eat and make sure the foods you want him to eat are the only options for him.

Answer 6

just continue to introduce them. Say you want him to eat Broccoli. Have him try a piece with the option of spitting into a napkin if he doesn't like it. But don't give up~ Next time you serve it again have him try again. Also cook it different ways. with my exmple you can chop up the broccoli in tiny pieces andpu into mac n cheese. The try with option to spit out works with my kids. They'll try anything and I'm surprised at some of the things they like as are they. Also with my older son , we'd bribe him at first which got things started anyway. We'd give him a quarter to try something. we've never done that with our younger son. You never know what will work.

Answer 7

Look up about whole grain breakfasts first. like CHEERIOS. They taste like heaven and seem so sugary when they arent! For dinner, you can make fish fingers (oven cooked,not fried) and mashed potatoes with baby carrots and make the dinner into something that looks appealing to ure kid. Eg, a happy face design! Kids wont like eating dull looking dinners. It has to look colourful and exciting! You can also buy vitimin tablets that look and taste like sweets! (make sure if you DO buy these, you keep them locked up safely) They taste really nice. You can also buy sugar-free sweets and jellys that taste just as good as regular junk! Most kids are really clever and can tell the difference so try (accidently-on-purpose) letting him over hear you talking about these AMAZING new sweets that are SO expensive to buy and only cool kids have them!. He will want them then! Remember.... kids go for cool design. Dont fall for products with names like "SPONGEBOB SPAGETTI SHAPES" in fact.... dont buy these kind of products atall! Most of these products are full of salt and sugar. Off the scales of the recommended daily allowence of a child.
Another great tip is to let HIM cook!!!! Kids love a challenge, and they will always eat something THEY themselves cooked because they feels its a reward to enjoy something they done themselves. So gather up colourful vegetables and fish or meat and under ure supervision with knives,cooker,gas and other kitchen utensils, let him do it!
In time, ure kid will be eating just as healthy as us all.
VERY IMPORTANT:IN THE QUIET, CLEAR THE HOUSE OF SWEETS AND FATTY FOODS AND FOR GODS SAKE, DONT TEMPT HIM BY EATING THEM URESELF. FIND A PICTURE OF REALLY BAD TEETH AND SHOW IT TO HIM EVERYTIME HE WHAILS FOR SWEETS HE SEE'S ADVERTISED ON TV.
Rewards go a long way with kids so let him know that if he helps you around the kitchen by cooking, he will recieve something very special at the end of each week. This will be something healthy like a trip to the zoo or something educational like a colouring book or even a cool set of markers and a drawing pad.
Teach him how to make desserts too! All healthy food of cource! A small amount of fat free icecream with a happy face on top using raisins is really cool and will also provide him with fibre and he wont even know that this sticky dessert is actually doing him more good than harm!!!!!
I wish you all the best and remember that its VERY important that you both reward and compliment him for his attempts.
Best of luck,
One really healthy kid on the way!
XXXXXXXXXXXX

Answer 8

simple

lead by example and dont have alternatives... you are the mom after all

if kids get fat or have health problems due to poor diet it is 100% the parent to blame at that age....

if you want your kid to eat healthy foods.. then simply feed it to him.. eventually he will eat something - give him a few different healthy foods at a time to see which he likes and dislikes...

Answer 9

It is a good idea to try making fun shapes with fruits and vegetables. Get creative and make it fun.

-Goodluck!

Answer 10

try PEDIA-SURE