Making tea time fun for toddlers

Toddlers can be put off by large portions. Keep servings small and appetising so eating doesn’t seem like a big task. Cut finger foods into bite-sized pieces that are easy for little hands to pick up.

If your toddler rejects a particular food – or even a whole meal – remember, it’s the food they’re rejecting, not you. If your child doesn’t want to eat, take the food away without a fuss.

Cutting foods into shapes or colouring them with fruit or vegetable juice can make food more appealing for kids, so they’re more likely to eat it.

Talking and reading about different foods means that when it turns up on a toddler’s plate, they’re familiar with it and more willing to give it a go. Children’s books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli or I Will Never Not Ever Eat A Tomato are great for introducing wee ones to healthy foods. Can they try all the fruit and veg the caterpillar eats?

Toddlers tend to be naturally unadventurous. Experts say they may need to come across a new food five to 15 times before they’re willing to eat it or know if they like it. So if your wee one turns up their nose at something new, calmly take it away. You can try serving it again another time.

Bribing, forcing or rewarding your child for eating is never a good idea. If you promise your child a biscuit for eating lunch, you are teaching them that lunch is a punishment and the biscuit is a reward.

Helping prepare a meal will make your child feel more part of things. Even young toddlers can be enlisted to tear the lettuce for a salad or wash fruit. Older ones can help with mixing and laying the table. Our page on tips to get the kids helping in the kitchen has more ideas.

Children like to be independent and love having small bowls or ‘picnic plates’ of their own finger foods, such as strips of pasteurised cheese, toast fingers, raisins and vegetable sticks, as an alternative to a formal family meal.

Don’t waste time and energy creating over-elaborate meals. You can’t beat fresh food that tastes and looks good.

Kids learn by observation. If the family sits together at meal times, kids will be encouraged to eat by watching others.

It’s unrealistic to expect toddlers to have table manners. It’s natural for a young child to want to squash their food and explore it with their fingers. Playing is part of understanding. Put a sturdy bib on them, protect the floor with a plastic tablecloth and don’t fret. They’ll get tidier in their eating habits as they get older!

If your child stops eating, turns away or gives you other signs that they’ve had enough, it’s time to call a halt. Trying to force children to carry on eating when they’ve had enough just gets everyone cross and grouchy and could lead to them overeating. Mealtimes should not really last longer than 30 minutes.

Finger feeding is fun but, like all feeding at this stage, it can be messy. Instead of fretting about sticky fingers, give in to the fact that mess is all part of the fun and experience of eating. Have a cloth handy to wipe hands and mouth at the end of the meal.

Faddy eating is usually more of an issue for parents than it is for toddlers. A child who is growing, has lots of energy and is offered healthy choices almost always balances their food intake over time.