How To Convince Your Picky Eaters To Finish Their Lunch

As hard as we’ve tried as parents, our children still act as if we are trying to poison them when we serve them mom-and-dad-approved meals. I have no idea where we went wrong but it has been an uphill climb trying to get them to start eating foods we can feel good about, and I wanted to share a few of the ways we have managed to get them back on track.

1. Hiding Fruits & Veggies in Their Meals

That’s right, the oldest trick in the book is exactly that for a reason. We weren’t exactly experts at it right off the bat but we have learned from our early errors and now our hiding skills would make Harry Houdini proud.

2. Pay Them Money

This strategy worked like a charm at the beginning. Unfortunately the kids were eating so many fruits and veggies that we had to either re-mortgage the house or cut this wonderful trick from our list.

3. Cover Everything in Peanut Butter

What kid doesn’t like a huge slab of peanut butter, am I right?! We found that if you threw enough of it on their food, they wouldn’t even recognize what it is that they are eating. Genius! Also, for the nut free crowd, you can try alternatives such as strawberry jam or melted cheese.

4. Start Them With Something They Love, Like Mott’s Fruitsations +Veggie!

One thing we haven’t had to force on the kids are Mott’s Fruitsations +Veggie fruit flavoured snacks. They are made with no artificial flavours or colours and the kids love them! Mott’s Fruitsations +Veggie snacks contain fruit and vegetable juice from concentrate from apples, pears and carrots, plus strawberry puree.

Each pouch is only 80 calories and they are perfect as lunch or after school snacks for our busy kidsIt’s worked well in our household and it makes mom and dad happy campers! You can grab Mott’s Fruitsations at your local grocery store and I’ll leave you with a quick word of advice to put them up high in your cupboard or you’ll be staring at an empty box the same day you buy them…

Disclosure: I was compensated for my participation in this program. I would definitely never pay my children to make wise food choices…