The little man is often a nightmare when it comes to food, especially at lunch time. He’d happily refuse all food and wait until tea time before he eats again. It drives me mad and it’s hard work trying to encourage him to eat sometimes.
A recent discovery for us that actually helps encourage him to eat, is to let him help to make his meal. It works marvelously with scrambled eggs at breakfast time so I’ve decided to branch out to lunch times too.Our current favourite is pizza buns. I chop up a variety of toppings, pop them into little bowls and let the little man go wild! He loves adding toppings himself, whilst sneakily ramming bits into his mouth. I think he thinks he’s being naughty, so I have to pretend to tell him off saying ‘eeesh’ repeatedly which he laughs and giggles at. When he’s finally perfected the arrangement on his buns we put them in the oven together while he excitedly paces round the kitchen waiting for his lunch. When they’re finally deposited on his plate, he eats! It’s so nice actually watching him eat a meal instead of hearing him say ‘No Mammy’. It might seem like a simple idea, but maybe like me you hadn’t thought of it. Asking your toddler to help prepare their own food may just improve mealtimes in your home too.