Tackling the fussy eater

Learn how to turn food battles into moments of connection and joy with these simple, practical, and stress-free ways

- Divya Sainathan

It was a Monday morning. My 4-year-old son was bathed and seated at the dining table with a hot, crisp dosa on his plate. His drive to school was 45 minutes away. I felt good that my child had plenty of time to eat something he really liked. This should be a fuss-free morning. About 20 minutes later, he had gone through four dips for just half a dosa, polishing off portions of chutney, sugar, chutney powder, and peanut butter and demanding a spoonful of jam while the dosa lay cold and ignored. I had catered to my son's every whim in my desperation to get him to eat his breakfast.

Such mealtime battles take a heavy toll on our sanity and our relationship with our kids. It's a fairly short walk from 'Is my kid eating enough for him to grow normally?' to the great self-doubt, 'What am I doing wrong?'

The truth is, fussy eating is natural and quite common among kids.

Aayushi Srinivasan, a psychologist based in Hyderabad, believes sensory issues such as aversion to texture, taste, smell, color, or even the act of chewing could be a factor. "Kids can also be put off when parents force them to eat something they don't like or when they don't want to eat," she says.

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