Recent studies show that 30% of picky eaters are between the ages of two and a half to four years old. As a nanny and preschool teacher, the question, “How did he/she eat today?” is asked from multiple families frequently. If a parent asks me a question, then honesty is what they’ll get. If the child is a picky eater and only ate their peaches for lunch, I tell them.

Always start off with a positive before a negative comment. For example,

“Molly enjoyed her carrots today. That’s great! However, she wasn’t fond of the macaroni and cheese and left it on her plate.”

Side note: I knew a girl who could tell if any mac and cheese served to her wasn’t from Panera Bread. There was NO fooling her. If it wasn’t from Panera Bread, she wasn’t going to eat it.

One of the hardest concepts I had to accept as a nanny is, you can’t change a learned behavior. The little girl only eats Panera Bread mac and cheese because her parents allow her to only eat that. You have to ignore the thoughts in your head that go something like, “If you were my child…” It’s not your child, but you can outsmart the child.

Imagination is a child’s best friend. Use food to create something exciting that will encourage your child to try something new. For example, I was introduced to picky eating with my charge, Jess. At the time, she was about to turn two. It makes me laugh, because her favorite food was duck…She literally would pick duck over chicken nuggets.

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One day, we were practicing our animal sounds and I thought of the best idea! I was able to create an owl using the snacks the parents had in the kitchen. By creating this owl, Jess learned the owl says hoot and can apply a memorable experience to look back on when someone else asks what an owl says. I used a slice of peanut butter bread with blackberries as eyes and the tip of a strawberries for a beak. I made slices of strawberry to act as the wing. I also used cheerios for the owl’s chest. Once I served the owl to Jess, she devoured it. Jess started to eat peanut butter more after that.

Currently, I have a child who is five and LOVES anything that moves. He’s also a picky eater. For example, if vegetables are not cut in a particular way, he won’t eat them. For transportation week, I made a simple dump truck and airplane lunch. It consisted half a peanut butter sandwich. Then, I cut a quarter half of the sandwich. The shorter piece was the cab and the longer piece acted as the back. Blueberries for wheels, and raisins as dirt. The airplane was just a simple sliced pickle with snap peas as wings. Once he finished all of his lunch, he was rewarded with a short video about airplanes

It’s not only about making a pretty picture with food for a good laugh. It’s a great tool for identifying parts of the owl like the wing and beak. When I made the dump truck and airplane, they recognized where the wings were and the cab on the truck. We are applying what we’ve learned through books and educational videos to real life. It’s also showing children that the food could be considered art and they can make things themselves too!

How to get slime out of hair!

When a young woman is in trouble, they call their mother first for advice. She’s like my own personal consultant for all things kid related. The directions given were as follows:

Tools: Peanut Butter

Spoon

Fine Tooth Comb

Shower/Bath

Shampoo/Conditioner

1. Use your spoon to cover the slime pieces of hair in peanut butter. (The oil from the peanut butter is what breaks the slime down so that it can come out of hair)

2. Once covered, run a fine toothed comb over the spots until you actually see the slime coming out the hair, along with the peanut butter.

3. When you’re confident there isn’t any slime left in the hair, it is time for the child to a get a shower/bath.

4. While child’s hair is saturated, run the fine tooth comb over the hair again.

5. Wash his hair with normal hair products.

Once I finished the directions my mother gave me, my boy’s hair was clean with no trace of slime. Once the crisis was averted, the older brother and I joked all day that his brother was a peanut butter head. When their mother came home, my peanut butter head enjoyed telling the story of how he’s never going to put slime in his hair ever again. Thankfully, no hair was cut and no jobs were lost. It became a funny memory I get to keep in my nanny journal forever.