How often have you gritted your teeth in response to the meal-time
chorus: "I don't like this" or "Yuk!" And that's before they've even tasted it.

Don't give up and present mac & cheese at every meal. With the number of obese children doubling over the past decade and the huge number of obese and overweight adults in the western world, you really need to educate your kids about healthy food choices. If you do it while they are young then they will be armed with the information they need when they are making food choices for themselves at high school and beyond.

So turn the tables on dinner-time battles with these kid-tested tips and ideas to encourage picky eaters.

Rewards program
photo: http://www.familycalm.com/graphics/catepillar.jpg Turn the situation from a battle into a reward-based situation. Start a reward chart that allows your children to benefit from trying new foods. Offer a sticker or some other indicator every time they try a new food they haven't had before. You'll need to set the rules for what 'trying' means. Offer them the chance to decide what's on the menu when they reach a certain number of reward points. Help them make healthy choices by showing them a picture of the food pyramid and have them design a meal that includes all the components of the pyramid, in the right proportions. Try creating a 'very hungry catepillar' on the wall, with another circle being added to the catepillar every time a new food is tried. You might like to add a happy, sad or neutral face on each circle to indicate whether your child liked the food they tried.

Set a good example
Make positive comments about healthy foods (and encourage other adults your children share meals with to do the same). Don't sit down in front of the TV with a large packet of chips and expect your children to eat spinach whilst you pig out on junk food.

Social meal times
Instead of meal times being a battle ground, turn off the TV, sit the family at the table together and talk. This will take the focus off the food and make meals a positive environment. You could try implementing a tradition such as having each person at the table tell what the best and worst thing that happened to them that day.

Grazing
For younger children, you might have more luck presenting small amounts of food throughout the day, rather than three large meals. Don't pile food on their plates. You can always offer seconds if they eat the initial offering.

Start young
Ok, so you've fed your baby a boring diet of bland bottled baby food. It's not too late the enliven their taste buds. When you think about what kids from other countries eat, Indian curries etc, it's obviously not impossible to get kids to eat highly spiced foods.
Slowly introduce small amounts of new flavors and gradually increase the dose over a period of months. Start with adding 1/4 of a red chili to a stew or casserole they like and increase this each time you make it. Add more garlic or a new herb, like cilantro (coriander) to a pasta dish they eat. Throw some fresh herbs on a bought pizza (prepare for the "you've ruined it!" howls). Curries and stir frys are good meals to offer as you can change the ingredients without them noticing it.

Repeat, repeat, repeat
A new recipe might be rejected on the first offering just because it's new and therefore, suspect. Offer it several times again over the course of a few months (give them long enough to forget that they didn't like it) until it becomes familiar. Research suggests that kids have to be presented with a new food at least 10 times before they consider it familiar enough to try. Give them a small tasting portion at the start of the meal, whilst they are still hungry.

Routine
During the week, strive to have a regular meal time. You can relax on weekends. Making meals a social event by having the whole family sitting down at the table together reinforces that meals are important. Conversation might even distract them from what they are eating!

Break the 'no-writing-in-books' rule
Write notes in your recipe books about how a particular dish was received and how easy it was to prepare. This will be a valuable reference next time you are looking for ideas on what to have for dinner.

Get organized
Spend time each week to work out a menu plan. It will save your life when you get home late and are faced with 'I'm starving'. You'll be able to develop your shopping list from the menu plan so that you have all the ingredients on hand. Keep notes on which dishes are family favorites and in a few weeks you'll have a list of dishes that you can just slot into rotating weekly menus.
Throw in a few new dishes now and again just to broaden your family's tastes. This strategy will stop you feeding your children junk just to give you time to figure out what to cook for dinner. It will also save you money as you'll only buy the food you need instead of throwing out unused vegetables at the end of the week.

Bribes and lies
If you hear yourself falling back on the tricks your mother used -"If you don't eat your vegetables then you can't have dessert" or "Think of the starving children in Africa" then stop. This strategy usually backfires and makes your child hate the food even more. If they refuse to eat simply remove the plate and move onto the next course.

Theme days
Let the kids choose a theme - a different country, a different era, a color etc. Have them help you research foods that go with the theme. Then serve foods that are appropriate to the theme. You can set the table and dress appropriately as well! It's a great weekend activity.

Self service
Allow your children to serve themselves or help with meal preparation. The more involved they are, the more likely they will eat. Playing 'waiter' with a serving tray, is always fun. Fajitas are a healthy self-service meal. For those unfamiliar with this Mexican meal, refer to an award-winning recipe at: http://www.familycalm.com/idea/recipes/fajitas.shtml
Minimize liquids
Make sure that your child is not filling up on drinks before or during meal times.

Substitution
If your child dislikes a food, try a substitute. If not
a vegetable will pass their lips then offer fruit for dessert. Non-milk drinkers can eat cheese or yoghurt. If cooked vegetables are rejected then try raw ones or even still-frozen ones.

The art of disguise
Stews, casseroles, pastas and soups are great vehicles for covering up vegetables and other yucky stuff. Zucchini, carrots, pumpkin, potatoes and onions can all be grated and added without fear of identification. A layer of mashed potato on top will act as a further cover up.

Shop together
As you move through the supermarket, discuss with your child what makes food healthy or unhealthy. Read labels together. Listen to what your child likes and dislikes. Turn shopping into a educational experience.

Food art
Turn your meals into works of art by creating food pictures. Vegetables and fruits are good for this. Kids enjoying eating an 'ear' or a 'nose' more than a snow pea or a carrot. Offer the raw ingredients and they can create their own edible works of art.

Don't lose your cool!
Don't turn meal time into a power struggle. Just remove the uneaten food, possibly saving it to offer later. Offer something like fruit and bread as an alternative if you are worried that they'll starve (few children have ever deliberately starved themselves to death).
Refuse requests for snacks later.

More ideas
Nesquik ran a competition asking parents to submit their best methods of promoting healthy eating with their children. Here are some of the submissions:
Vegetable of the month club:
Have your kids select a vegetable from a list and then cook the vegetable in as many different ways as possible.

Alphabet eating adventure:
Eat a different vegetable or fruit each day, working your way from Apple to Zucchini.

The rest can be found on the Nesquik site: http://www.verybestkids.com/nes_moms/landing.asp?brnd=NSQA

Warning: If your child is very underweight or small for their age, or exhibits other signs such as a lack of energy then seek professional help. It's very important that they receive all the nutrients their growing body needs.

Copyright 2002 Michelle Archard - For family-friendly recipes and other kid-tested tips, visit http://www.familycalm.com