My Dad always made me finish my plate when I was a kid. And that never hurt me. 

Ever heard that comment before? Maybe you have tried talking to friends or family about being more gentle and respectful at mealtimes with your little ones. Maybe you have talked about how it feels wrong to pressure your little ones into eating?

And then comes that sentence. And you start doubting yourself: “Maybe I am being too soft on my child? Maybe they are right? Maybe I ought to let my child know who is in charge here?”

I want to say this to you: Stand firm and stay gentle. You are on the right track when choosing a respectful approach. Because forcing, manipulating (like bribing and rewarding), and punishing are strategies that will never build trust.

That someone else survived (!) the old-fashioned approach doesn’t mean that it’s the best approach for you and your family. Especially if you:
- want to establish a respectful relationship with your child.
- want your...

When dealing with young selective eaters, it can sometimes be very frustrating when they again turn down the broccoli or the fish without having tasted just a tiny bit of it. Sometimes, we, therefore, resort to strategies that I have chosen to call mealtime manipulation strategies. Those strategies include food bribing, food rewards, punishing with food, or regulating emotions with food. But in this article, I’ll focus on when we sneak certain foods that our kids don’t like into a meal without telling them about it. Some examples are spinach in smoothies, cauliflower rice, or squash muffins. I’ll admit that I’ve engaged in this sort of manipulation, too: When one of my daughters declared that she only liked chicken, I would call pork “chicken-pork”, and it worked – she tried it. And I had it my way. But with time, I’ve also come to realize that this was not a victory. If I want to create a food hero and if I want my kids to be curious...