
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 31, 1995                   TAG: 9505310052
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SUSAN TAMAN LEVY ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HERE'S HELP FOR PICKY EATERS

Children who are picky eaters can often give their parents a good case of heartburn. But taking different approaches to a child's eating habits may help make meals more pleasant for the whole family.

Eating behaviors that adults may consider as problems - food binges, strikes and other unusual habits - are generally a normal part of children's development.

Meals, especially dinners, should be organized at times when families sit down together without outside distractions.

Offering children choices of the foods to be prepared can encourage them to eat at mealtime. It can also be helpful to have children participate in cooking, by peeling vegetables or stirring a sauce, for example.

A five-minute warning before meals also can help children calm down, give them time to wash their hands and get ready to eat.

At mealtime, children and adults have divided responsibilities. Children are responsible for how much they eat, and adults are responsible for the foods that are served.

Parents also must be smart gatekeepers - they should buy only those foods they want their children to eat.

It is normal for children to go on food jags, periods of time when they eat only one food at meals for several days at a time.

In these cases, it is important not to pressure children to eat other foods. That will only give fussy habits more attention and reinforce children's demands for their chosen foods.

Instead, parents should continue to offer the jag food as long as the child wants it. At the same time, they can offer a variety of other foods at mealtime. Eventually the child may tire of the jag food and move on to other foods.

Parents also may want to keep bread, rolls and fruit on hand, or occasionally allow children to make a sandwich during meals, if they do not like what their parents have prepared.

But above all, parents should not offer a special separate dinner if their children do not like the foods to be served. In the long run, it is better that children miss an occasional meal than to have them believe that their parents will be short-order cooks, making whatever they want at the moment.

A child can be leery of trying new foods. It may take a light-handed approach to expanding the child's food vocabulary, so instead of forcing them to eat what is on the table, continue to introduce the spurned foods in different forms.

Many exposures may be required before a child is ready to taste a new food.

Adults should set a good example for their children by eating regular meals and healthful food choices. Parents with poor eating habits can expect their children to form the same.

A word to the wise: Keep the big picture in mind. If parents continue to offer a wide variety of healthy foods, children will get the nutrients they need.

Susan Taman Levy is a registered dietician at New York University Medical Center.

by CNB