Using Peer Pressure on a Picky Eater?

I have a picky eater in my home too.

My middle child can be very "selective" with her food, and rather dramatic in her loud objections to our meals. She is the only child I have not fooled into thinking I am a really good cook. With my little drama queen, I have persevered with the one meal for everyone approach and I am happy to report she is thriving despite her occasional table drama.

When I cheerfully and enthusiastically present a new recipe, my courageous oldest child will try it, and give me the thumbs up or thumbs down sign.

My middle daughter will thumb her nose at it and refuse to taste it, making every facial gesture in her rather large repertoire.

My youngest child will dissect the meal into its components as if he were taking his medical school final in anatomy.

My daughter’s pickiness seems to fade when the other cannibals at the table, better known as her brother and sister, happily shout out, “If you don’t want to eat that, then there is more for me!” After a few times of hearing this, her natural sense of competition appears and she tries the new food because she realizes she is missing out on something good.

I remain impressed by the successful ability of two siblings to exert peer pressure on their unsuspecting five year old sister.

Sometimes the main entrée is one of my untested concoctions or perhaps not as child appropriate because it is too spicy. In that case I ask my children to try it and provide them with another option.

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