Should I Worry About My Picky Eater?

Q: Picky eaters are tough and usually stubborn as nails.

A: First, the good news: they almost never develop any significant nutritional or medical problems from eating so sparingly.

Since there is no way to make a child not be picky (it's a hypersensitivity to taste or textures he was born with, neither his nor anyone's fault), all you can do is try to maximize what he does eat.

Here's my advice:

1. Give him a high-quality daily vitamin so you don't have to worry about what he does or doesn't eat.



2. Don't try to force him to eat. Power struggles tend to make things worse as the child decides not to eat just to show you who is boss.



3. Let him eat pretty much what he wants of the reasonably nutritious foods. But keep the junk food to a minimum, as it will curb his appetite without meeting any nutritional needs. Offer him food but make sure he knows it's his choice.



4. Keep mealtime fun. If he doesn't eat, that's okay. Forget about it. Most kids, in the long run, will eat better if they associate meals and food with family closeness and fun. And they'll eat less if mealtime is an ordeal to get through where no one is happy and everyone just focuses on how much food is eaten.

If you stick to these principles and everyone lightens up about the whole thing, 99 kids out of 100 do fine.

Tools to Try

• Picky Eaters: Recipes to Feed the Whole Family
• Chef Jamie Oliver Makes Over School Lunches