Getting a child to eat healthy food and in the right quantity is often a headache for parents. For the homeschooling parent, food can become the source of a major daily struggle with a fussy eater. However having a few tricks up their sleeve can make it much easier for them to deal with their homeschooled fussy eaters. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind.
Start with Small Portions
When you introduce a new food to the homeschooled toddler, begin with a very small portion. Introduce the food by name. Allow them to smell it, and feel it with their fingers before you proceed to give them a bite. Two spoons is enough to begin with. If they like it, give them more. If they don’t like it, let it be for then. Don’t ever force feed them more than they want, or they will learn to hate the food, and eventualy meal time as well. This will only result in more struggles related to food.
Mind the Snack Size
Having a small snack between meals is important for young homeschooling students as their stomachs are quite small. This means that you need to feed them about 5 or 6 small meals in the day. Having counted breakfast, lunch and dinner as the mandatory main meals, you will need to add in a mid morning, mid afternoon, and late night snack as per their needs. Ensure that they get the right idea about eating larger sized meals and smaller sized snacks.
Have Them Feed Themselves
As soon as they are able to grasp their spoons, you should encourage your homeschooled toddlers to feed themselves. This allows them to develop independence early. They know just how much they want to eat, and will not over feed themselves. Plus they will feed themselves at a pace that suits them. You can make them eat along with the rest of the family, to include them at meal times. This also helps them keep eating as they see the rest of the family members continuing to eat.
