RAQ: How do you get a picky eater to EAT?

So I recently had a reader ask me how I get picky eaters to eat in my household.  That is such a great question that almost ALL moms are going to face at some point in time!

We have several techniques that we use in my house…. First of all, I do *not* make separate foods for my kids vs. the adults.  If I do, it’s VERY, VERY rare.  Yes, we have “kid food” nights, but EVERYONE eats it, not just the kids.  (Kid food meaning nuggets and fries or mac n cheese with cut up wienies or something like that.)
However, even though I don’t necessarily cater my meals completely to the kids, I do try to have at least ONE item on the plate that I know they will eat.  If we’re trying some new casserole recipe and some kind of a veggie that we’ve rarely or never had before, I might make sure to put some cantaloupe or banana or a slice of cheese on the plate with it.  This way, even if they don’t really eat what I served as the main parts of the meal, they will still be eating *something*.

Next, I make sure and come up with how many bites I expect of them and of what.  For example, let’s say that I did serve them this new casserole, new veggie, and half a cheese slice and half a banana.  They gulp down the cheese and banana like it’s nothing at all and then look at me.  I can guarantee you now that we have this routine that they will say, “How many bites do I have to eat?”  LOL  They already know I’m not messing around here and that more is likely expected of them!

Usually I will tell them specifically what I expect.  I judge my answer based on how much they’ve already tried the new item.  If they haven’t touched it at all, the number is going to be higher.  If they’ve picked at it and had a few bites, I’ll require less.  I might say something like, “Okay, 2 bites of the entree and 2 bites of the vegetables.” 

OR if they have picked at everything and all the “good” stuff (good being the things THEY think are good. haha) is already gone, I might just say, “Eat four bites of whatever you want.”  Then they act like I’ve done them some kind of favor because they can try to be ‘clever’ and eat what they like.  This is usually the case when we have rice or noodles in the casserole – they’ll eat up bites of the starch or bites of the meat or something like that and avoid everything else.  Honestly, that’s fine.  They have tried and that’s all I ask!

Another thing that I have done is to ask for “bonus bites”.  My daughter likes this especially well because she has the teacher’s pet personality so she always likes to feel like she’s so awesome for going above and beyond. 😉  She’ll ask me how many bites, I’ll tell her, she’ll eat, and then she’ll eat bonus bites.  I used to ask her for bonus bites.  She’d eat and I’d ask her to pick a bonus bite and she usually would!  By this point, she’d have realized there really was something else on the plate that she liked and would gladly eat more.  My son doesn’t like it as much because it’s not really his personality, but sometimes if it’s a food that he really does like, he’ll ask how many bonus bites I want him to eat. lol  He’s the same kid that asks me if I was wanting to hug and kiss him right now.  I can’t turn this down. lol  It’s like he’s trying to use reverse psychology on me in the most adorable way possible. 🙂

Anyway, I hope that this has helped you some to “see” how we do it here!
How do you get a picky eater to eat?