Food, Triangles and Fun: A Food Tool for Your Picky Eater

If there is one thing, as a feeding therapist, that I find myself saying over and over to parents it's "you need to give it more time."  We all want a quick fix-especially when we are dealing with weight gain issues for children. Unfortunately, like most things that involve change and growth...there is no quick fix. It involves hard work, dedication and flexibility. 

One way that I've found to help parents of picky/selective eaters, stay the course, is by using a variety of food tools along with sound therapeutic programs. In conjunction with these programs we must continue to build food knowledge. This is what led me to develop my program Food Literacy for the Picky Eater (TM). {available September 1st on our website}.  Learning about food in a non threatening way while having fun builds a foundation for TRUST and future exploration. 

One of my favorite tools for Food Literacy with a picky eater is a Funbites cutter. These cutters are child friendly and give you a multitude of options for cutting foods into different shapes {hearts, triangles and squares}.  It's not all about making the food fun with this tool however...there is so much more that they do! Using a Funbites cutter:

*allows the child some ownership of their food
*allows the child to express creativity with their food
*allows the child to experience the food through MANY senses
*makes for a GREAT Food Academics (TM) lesson
 
ALL without having to "take a bite." You might be surprised however, because many children who are given this freedom to explore and experiment WILL take a bite when they are simply having fun with the food and learning about the food. The keys are patience, making the activity about the experience and not about "taking a bite." 

My 13 year old daughter and I had some fun with the Funbites cutter today, using two of the most commonly found foods on a picky/selective eater's food list: cheese slices and bread. 

Now, I kept things simple for a reason...you don't have to be a food artist or have a lot of time to make use of the Funbites cutter OR to have a Food Academics (TM) lesson with your child. 


Keep it simple. 

You should know that my daughter swears that the mini triangle sandwiches taste MUCH better than the full size. :) 

Be sure to click on the Funbites picture to check them out...be sure to use the coupon code: TherapyLearning for 20% off your entire order. 

Until next time, keep growing and blooming. 

Jen