How I Get My Kids To Eat More Meat
Both my kids have progressed from being super picky eaters to being picky about only a food group or ingredient. Depending on the food, sometimes it can be personal tastes, other times it’s just unfamiliarity and I’m a bit more vocal in those instances, trying to encourage but not force them to eat the less desired ingredients.
For my oldest son that ingredient is meat. He turns his nose up to meat in most forms and I try and make those meals as pleasant and enjoyable as possible by gently pushing his comfort zone, without being too forceful and ending up with a negative experience.
My latest tactic to get him to eat more meat is to spread his “dinner” portion over as many meals as possible.
For example, I made lamb loin chops (which my youngest would eat by the plateful if I let him) and rather than expect him to eat a whole chop in one sitting, I popped one on his plate and then chatted with him about how many pieces he wanted me to cut it into. He wanted six. So, I cut it into six pieces and agreed that he could eat half at lunch and half at dinner. (Bonus – he learned about halves and fractions in a real life example!)
He proceeded to s-l-o-w-l-y eat his three pieces of meat at lunch and then the other three were waiting for him at dinner.
I’ve found that this method is very successful. Rather than waiting for dinner time and him having three mouthfuls of meat and then leaving the rest, I’ve spread the meat over a couple of meals and he is eating as much as he can cope with at a meal while consuming as much as I want him to eat over the course of the day.
Overall, mealtimes are a lot less stressful now that I’m spreading out the meat portion and he’s a lot happier too!
