How to get your child to eat meat

With time, children can learn to happily eat meat.

Children, particularly young children, are notoriously picky eaters. They may refuse to eat any white foods, ask for macaroni and cheese at every meal or prefer to play rather than eat anything at all. One food children often reject is meat. If you come from a family of carnivores and omnivores and want your child to enjoy the meals the rest of the family does, there are a variety of techniques that can gently encourage your child to add meat to his diet.

Difficulty:

Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Model meat-eating for your child. When you eat meat, comment about how delicious the hamburger tastes or how you feel good feeding your body a nutritious food such as fish. Children learn proper behavior from observing their parents. Even if your child doesn't like meat now, if he sees you eating and enjoying meat, he is likely to eventually eat and enjoy it himself.

2. Mix meat with other foods your child likes to make it more appealing. Children may reject meat served on it's own because they dislike the taste or texture. Include meat in a soup to make the meat less chewy, or add small pieces of meat to pasta sauce or pizza. Create a sandwich, tortilla or stuffed pita that includes pieces of meat.

3. Involve your child in food preparation, since children are more likely to eat food that they have helped make. Let her help you pick out meat products when you are grocery shopping. Choose kid-friendly meat options, such as chicken or fish nuggets. Have her cut sliced meat into fun shapes with cookie cutters before adding it to a sandwich or eating it plain. Name a meat creation she helps makes after her, such as "Jessica's Meatballs."

4. Keep offering your child meat even if he refuses it. A child may need 10 exposures to a new food before he will accept it. Have him eat just one or two bites of meat at each meal. Even if he just puts it in his mouth and doesn't actually eat it, this will still expose him to the new food and help him get used to the new flavor. Ask him to tell you about the meat's shape, color or smell rather than just whether he likes it or not.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't worry if your child refuses to eat meat for now. The critical nutrient he needs is protein, and he can easily get the daily protein he needs from sources such as eggs, nuts, peanut butter, cheese, milk, yogurt and beans.

References

• MayoClinic; Children's Nutrition: 10 Tips for Picky Eaters; August 2009
• BabyCenter; What Should I Do If My Child Refuses to Eat Any Meat?; Debby Demory-Luce
• BabyCorner; How Can I Get My 16 Month Old Daughter to Eat Meat and Veggies?; Christine Wood
• ChooseMyPlate.gov; Make Food Fun for Picky Eaters; May 2011