Fussy 4 year old

[jaylupa]

I have a pt 4 year old, (once a week) who is a fussy eater. He does not like most of the items I have prepared for lunch. I have asked his mother for suggestions but I with no avail. I hear that some people use a food list? What does this look like or contain...I am at my wits end here. Its not fair to the other children that when he is here I am serving the same food. Plus last week he refused morning snack, a wrap with cream cheese and jam, and broccoli an cheese quiche for lunch. All the other children loved both new items. Suggestions please.

[Starshine]

Don't cater to fussy eaters. Serve what you would regularly serve and if he doesn't want to eat it, he doesn't eat it. End of story.

[cfred]

If a child doesn't eat lunch in my daycare, they're getting it back at snack time. It's the most effective way I've found to combat fussy eaters. Kids learn here, very quickly, that food is precious and it will not be wasted on something as ridiculous as fussiness.

[Crayola kiddies]

Serve what you serve and thats it ... But on the days that he's there don't go all fancy .... Maybe home baked muffin and a fruit for snack or cheese cubes and crackers or yoghurt and a fruit .... To be totally honest my kids are not fussy eaters but they would not eat quiche and only one of my kids will eat a wrap but not with peanut butter and jam. For lunch maybe grilled cheese , spaghetti, scrambled eggs, ect ...... It's only one day a week and making sonething he likes is easier then stressing over it !

[Inspired by Reggio]

I do not cater to fussy eaters ~ in group care the challenge is if you cater to ONE than before you know it all the other children catch on that this kid has POWER to get whatever food he LIKES by refusing to eat anything else and they are start trying this strategy

I plan the menu WITH the children so they do have some input into meal planning ~ each full time child gets to pick one am snack, one lunch, and one PM snack and a PT child gets to pick either a lunch or the two snacks between the kid he shares with . IMO this is a great teachable moment time to discuss nutrition and healthy eating 'away from the table' and through this practice I have found that children will choose new and different foods and keep our menu fresh with variety and as mentioned they learn that food is something to be treasured and valued and so forth because we have discussions like that during these times when getting them to actually EAT is not an issue so they are more open to listening ... I will also do things like when I see that a child ALWAYS tries to pick the same foods/combinations when its their turn I will start to hide those foods from the photo list they are choosing from so they are forced to pick something else and just say 'opps looks like the grocery store does not have any X in stock this week we will have to choose something else from the list to put on our plate' or 'opps someone else already picked those and we need some variety so our muscles get all the nutrients they need pick something else' ... works awesome!

I had a 3 year picky eater join my group and within two weeks her parents were amazed at the change in her approach to food not only here but at home ... parents took her out to McD's for dinner the one night and she reprimanded them because they did not bring any fruit or veggies and her plate was therefore 'unbalanced' and how would her muscles grow big and strong Now she still 'struggled' cause it took her a long time of trying something before her palette would accept it as 'liked' but she had at least started to TRY foods outside the list of 10 things she 'liked' and therefore her parents had been catering to her to serve at home!

[dodge__driver11]

I do not let fussy eaters rule the roost here. If kid A doesn't like something that is alright, but they know they do not eat until snack if that is the case