Never in all my years of practical experience in the parental arena have I ever seen such a huge increase with eating disorders and the challenges surrounding children who are not eating…or what we tend to nickname “picky eaters.” Parents are consistently baffled with how to encourage their kids to eat healthy and how to maintain those healthy eating habits. How did we become so obsessed that we have now created the problems ourselves?

The first time you bring your child to eat out, start easy with a family-friendly restaurant. Make sure the menu options have some items your child is familiar with eating. Do not expect them to try something new the first time out. Try to go a little earlier than you would normally eat dinner (and just before prime eating time). This will help insure the restaurant isn’t packed and your wait, for both a table and food, won’t be long.

The first step to have parents start healthy eating habits is by doing it themselves It all start with you and how you approach food and cooking. We equate anything healthy with being good for you. So what we’re really talking about is developing good eating habits for kids.