Steering kids off the picky path

Finicky adults are basically picky toddlers grown old. Doctors and nutritionists say that habits formed early become a way of life. The easiest way to avoid raising lifelong fussy, demanding eaters is to make sure that the most important people in children's lives — parents — eat right themselves.

Kids imitate Mom and Dad, these experts say. If the parent's a picky eater, the child will almost certainly become a picky eater, says Julie Leopold, nutrition manager for Inova Health System. "That's how cultures develop with people all eating the same foods."

Madelyn Fernstrom, director of the Weight Management Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, offers these tips:

Start young. Toddlers should be offered a variety of foods. If they are refused, reintroduce a small amount every few months.

Talk with children; offer a taste. Encourage them to be "adventurous eaters" and respect their views. Ask what it is about a dish that is "bad" — color, texture, mouth feel, taste — some things may seem gross to them that do not occur to adults.

Mix up the preparation. Many kids won't touch cooked vegetables but enjoy them raw. Add a dip — peanut butter works for both fruits and veggies.

Don't become a short-order cook. Make one meal and offer it to everybody. Leave the clam sauce off the kids' pasta or set aside some chicken before adding the mole, but don't make special meals.

Try to identify a few healthy foods your child will eat, and learn to live with those. Willingness to eat one fruit or one vegetable is a start.

Add a vitamin. "A daily children's chewable vitamin is key for the picky eater, to ensure requirements," Fernstrom says.

"Food struggles are really power struggles," says Joanne Watson, physician at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. "Kids don't have much control in their lives. We tell them when to get up, what to wear, when to go to bed. This is one thing they can control — what goes in them."

Fernstrom says, "It cannot be a battle. The parent will always lose."