To the dismay of many parents a lot of children are very picky eaters.   While you won’t find that they have many problems eating hamburgers , cheesy pizza or French fries, you will see that they won’t touch a 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 daughter .  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 cure a picky eater, no matter how hard it may be.  While as a parent you may do it initially to make your life calmer , there are more important issues at stake.  Picky eating in childhood can lead to many consequences later in life, like obesity.  Picky eating can be an blockage   to your child leading a healthy and happy life.

Most picky eaters favor junk food over healthy food and this leads to lots of problems, like childhood and adult obesity, which can lead to self-esteem issues and dangerous health consequences 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 troublesome eater is often an irregular eater, avoiding the three solid meals and snacks.  Not eating meals can lead to bingeing on unhealthy options throughout the day, like a fast food blow out for lunch.  Regular 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 picky eaters revolves around the social concerns.  A child 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 problems 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 adept eater is also important.

As a parent , do yourself a favor and help your child develop a reasonable attitude .  Never and keep introducing new foods to her menu – 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.  Eat your own veggies, snack on healthy fruit and get excited over your salads.   Curing a picky eater will make your parenting life that much easier.