Tuesday Tip for Picky Eaters: Preferences Change Quickly

This week’s Tuesday Tip for Picky Eaters: Preferences Change Quickly.

If you had asked me for a list of Henry's favorite foods a month ago, I would have said that fresh fruit was generally at the bottom of the list. When given a choice, Henry has generally picked items from the other food groups first and left the fruit on his tray or tossed it over the side. With the exception of pears and citrus, he has not seemed overly impressed with the flavor or texture of most fruits. While I have consistently offered fresh fruit to him with meals, I also have frequently mixed fruit into other forms, like oatmeal or pancakes, to be sure to expose his palette to the taste of fruit.

That all changed two weeks ago when Henry suddenly started gobbling up fresh fruit. Daddy and I noticed the switch at a friend's birthday party, where Henry packed away six or seven chunks of pineapple and several handfuls of blueberries. Since then, he has happily eaten strawberries, blood orange, apple, mango and more blueberries. He even tried a few bites of kiwi.

Henry checks out a slice of fresh kiwi.

My lesson from this experience is to keep offering a wide variety of food choices to your kids. They may surprise you one day and start eating something that they previously did not seem to like. Kids' preferences are fickle. Their favorites can change quickly, whether it's a favorite toy, a favorite color or a favorite food.

As I've mentioned before, it can take many exposures to a food before a child accepts it. If you get discouraged and stop offering fruit or veggies to him, then you will never know when he might suddenly change his mind and decide it is his new favorite.

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