Reducing Stress for Picky Eaters

Serve Dinner Family Style

Serve Dinner Family Style. That's it. This one simple change made all of the difference. I won't bore you with the details of our struggle with our picky eater. If you are reading this post the chances, are you have already lived it! My son has said to me at least a dozen times that he loves this new change where he gets to choose what he gets to put on his plate.

Before family style, my husband and I were living as if we were short order cooks every night. We made for each child the things we knew they liked and desperately tried to incorporate variety from day to day, which seemed almost impossible when one child only likes a handful of food items. And it always seemed that whatever food he loved yesterday he would all of the sudden find revolting today. It was a never-ending struggle that had us all at our wits end.

So, we made a simple but very impactful change to serving dinner family style. We also started to meal plan. I'll detail our meal planning game in depth in a future post, because it deserves a post of its own. But there is no need for a detailed plan before starting to serve family style. All you have to do is to put out a variety of food each night in serving dishes in the middle of the table. Our youngest will set the table with plates, napkins and utensils. She loves this responsibility and asks to do this every night now. Then we all sit down together. Whoever chose the dish for the night will say a prayer for us. Then we all get to choose what to put on our plates and politely, without comment or pressure leave what does not appeal to us.

Always Include Something You Know They Will Like

One important tip is to be sure to always put out one or two items that the picky eater will enjoy eating so that they never have to worry about going hungry. For my son, as long as we have some fruit and some kind of bread like dinner rolls or breadsticks or biscuits, then he will be perfectly fine.

The most exciting part is that since we have started serving family style, he has been the one to lead the charge on his trying new foods! We don't pressure him to try these things, but he sees his sister trying the main dish every night and she always gets a big smile on her face and gives it a big thumbs up! So he has voluntarily tried the coconut shrimp, fish fillets, crab legs and langostino lobster rolls!

Get Creative with Extra Protein

Given my son's preference for carbs, I do sometimes worry about him getting enough protein. So, I have been incorporating protein smoothies as his drink. We make them fun and seasonal, Pineapple coconut in the summer, Horchata on Taco Tuesday, Pumpkin spice in the fall. Now that the weather is turning colder, I'll be putting protein powder into some homemade hot chocolate and making the black bean brownies that he knows are made with black beans, but he loves them anyway.

I really hope this helps! It has made a dynamic and positive shift in our household. Hopefully it will do the same for you!