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The preschoolers are generally very fussy about eating food. At this age the child is developing his taste. The children tend to like mostly junk food such as: wafers, chips and pizza. It is of great importance that children develop good eating habits. The children should be given to taste different types of food. The mothers should take care to include the food items from all the food groups.

When children reach their preschool years, many of their major feeding problems go away. While they still have fairly small appetites, their eating patterns are more stable.

Preschool children are eager and ready to learn about foods and are more likely to accept new foods if they can help you prepare them. Helping with meals can be a tremendous learning opportunity. Preschoolers can learn about new words, relationships, and locations. They can learn about size and quantity as they count cookies, measure cups of milk, and compare large and small fruit.

Some cooking activities such as beating with an egg beater and peeling carrots with a vegetable peeler give preschoolers practice in motor coordination. Steps in recipes teach the idea of order and sequence. Children love pictures, so having pictures replace words in a recipe is great for preschoolers. Waiting for bread or cake to come out of the oven teaches about time, and setting a table uses the child's memory.
Preschool children are influenced by other people - both adults and children. If they hear their parents or friends say they do not like a particular food, the children will often decide they do not like that food either. Foods they hear about on television often are requested. Preschool children need good models to copy in order to have a healthy diet. Be sure to eat healthy foods yourself when you are around young children.

Preschool children can learn about appropriate mealtime behavior: talk instead of yell at the table, ask for a dish to be passed instead of reaching across the table, and sit at the table or wherever the meal is served instead of getting up every few minutes.

Various researches have shown that parental eating habits also influence the child’s eating behavior. Early parental influence has an enduring effect on an individual’s feeding practices. When adults select or ignore certain foods, they are simply connecting to those same food choices parents made for them in early childhood. There are a number of ways parents can influence preschool children’s eating practices.

Parents can control foods that enter the household and how that food is prepare
Parents determine where, when, and how often the family eats outside the home.
When children observe their mothers eating an unfamiliar food, they are more receptive to trying the new food. Studies have demonstrated that if mothers are unwilling to try new foods the children may model their parent’s dislike for the same new foods.
Parents can influence whether the child, based on the food socialization practices of the family, receives a particular food optimistically or pessimistically.
In order to maintain or control children’s behaviors, two food-related parenting styles have emerged: permissive and authoritarian. Parents who are permissive when it pertains to food styles basically allow the child to eat what the child wishes to eat. Parents who use the authoritarian style to manipulate the child’s food intake do so through commands, force, instructions, or directives. Even though a great deal of literature on the parenting styles has been gathered, further research must be done to clarify all the factors that influence use of these distinctly different styles.

Mealtime is important to children's development. The food they eat at mealtime gives the vitamins, minerals, and protein they need to grow and stay healthy. It gives the child energy and makes him / her feel good. Eating habits and attitudes learned in childhood can last a lifetime.

Even infants show definite food preferences, but children often learn to dislike food from watching and hearing others say they do not like it. How food looks, tastes, and feels in the mouth is important in making it attractive to children.

TRANSITIONS: from playing to eating

Ending one activity and beginning another is called a transition. Making the transition from playing to eating can be hard for children. Transitions often involve ending an enjoyable activity. It is a period of waiting - in this instance waiting for meals to be served. When children are required to wait they often become restless and bored. Fights can start with brothers and sisters. Children may start playing with their food or banging their forks and spoons. They probably will not sit in their chairs for very long. Some children may get up and run through the room, shout and chase each other, or return to their play activities. Caregivers can ease the transition to mealtimes by simply planning ahead.

Have the meal ready to serve before calling children to the table.
Give children advance warning that a transition will be made. For example, "Lunch will be served in a few minutes. Finish your game so you will be ready to eat." Children do not like abrupt changes. Letting them know what is coming next will make the transitions smoother.
A rest or a quiet activity before eating can help to calm the child. This lets the child know that playing is over and it is time to switch gears to something else.
Plan ahead. What special needs will each child have? What might go wrong during mealtime. What will your answer be if asked, "Why do I have to eat now?" Think these things through in advance, and be prepared for whatever you think might happen.

The parents are responsible for what is being presented to the child to eat, when is the food being presented and where it is presented. Children are responsible for how much and even whether they eat. Parents can improve the child’s eating habits by:

Parents should provide a good example. Parents cannot expect the child to eat vegetables, roti, dal and rice while the parents munch on chips and dip in front of the television.
Involve your children in preparation. Even small children can help prepare some of the things they eat. If a child has helped make a meal or snack, he or she is more likely to eat it. The mothers can involve children in shelling the peas, peeling boiled potatoes, stinging the beans, spread butter or jam on bread etc. Children of age 5 to 6 years can be asked to even help the mother lay the table. Small tasks such as carrying the empty water glasses to the dining table, keeping of plates can be assigned to the children.
The parents can talk to the child about basic nutrition. Talk about foods that help children grow strong and stay healthy...and those that don't. Classify foods at the market or on the table, into the food groups. Play simple games that teach about these foods.
Make wise choices at the supermarket and stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables instead of boxed cookies and chips.
Serve small helpings and cut everything into small bites to fit small mouths. It's not so overwhelming when there are small amounts on a plate. A child will ask for more if desired. Make everything look as appetizing as possible. Sometimes it's fun to make a face or a design with the bites of food.
Avoid offering sweets as a reward. The child needs to be told that desserts are more important and desirable than the other parts of the meal. Children get mixed messages when food is used as a reward or given for emotional comfort. Offer at least one food you know your child likes at each meal. Allow your child to make some food choices on their own. Providing the choice between an orange and a banana offers the strong-willed child some options.
Make mealtime and snack time a social event in a pleasant atmosphere. A child is much more apt to try new things in a happy environment. Don't get angry...it only makes a child more stubborn about trying new foods. Maybe he or she simply isn't hungry, but will be a willing-eater at the next meal. Avoid pleading ("Please eat"), threatening ("No dessert if you don't eat your salad") or guilt inducing ("Think of all the hungry children in the world"), such statements would not help. Rather the child is likely to develop an aversive behavior towards food.
Keep meals reasonably short but allow plenty of time for the child to finish eating. If a child fidgets with the food, it’s an indicator than the child has finished eating and does not want to eat. In such a situation, take the food away and don't allow the child to snack for another hour or two. This discourages the child from refusing food at the table in hopes she will get what she wants afterward.
Stay positive. Expect some setbacks. Most children go through phases where they reject foods because of texture or appearance. These phases seldom last. Expect food jags and avoid making issues out of likes and dislikes. Above all, don't bribe or force the child to eat.
Offer at least one food you know your child likes at each meal. The parents may ask the child to try everything but don't force or battle him/her to eat everything.
Meals should never be power struggles between parent and child. If children learn that food demands are a good way to manipulate you, they will use eating time as an opportunity to get what they want.
Learning to eat is your child's job. Always introduce and offer healthy food to the child

TIPS FOR HANDLING PICKY EATERS

Try the one bite rule:
It may be too much to expect your child to eat an entire serving of a particular food. The try one bite rule works for a lot of children. Many foods are acquired tastes and the more times the child tries it the more likely he will be to like it. As a guideline, it may take trying a new food as many as ten times before your child will like it.

Try to avoid main dishes or unusual foods that your child does not like:
Many children do not like foods that are mixed together. Instead of making a mix dish try making the foods separately so that the child has more choices. Avoid unusual foods that are spicy or that your child doesn’t like. Keep in mind that many healthy adults do not care for unusual or spicy foods.

Make mealtime a pleasant experience:
Do not make a big deal about your child’s food choices. Making your child eat something he doesn’t like or forcing your child to stay at the table till he eats his food, only leads to more food battles. Children may remember this into adulthood and it does not seem to be beneficial in improving what the child eats.

Serve appropriate portion sizes:
Parents are sometimes unrealistic about how much their child should be eating. Toddlers need about 1000 to 1300 calories a day on average. Be realistic about how much the child is capable of eating and do not expect the child to consistently eat the same amounts of food. Some days the child will eat better than other days.

Serve a variety of food and give your child choices:
Look at what is being served to the child. See if the meals are monotonous. Also try to evaluate as to whether you as a parent are liking what you are eating. Families that are living on a limited budget for food may not provide enough variety for their children. It is okay for the kid to eat their favorite foods regularly but try having several choices at mealtime for them.

Let your child help with shopping and cooking:
Kids like to be involved in their food decisions. Letting the child help prepare his meals will make him more interested in eating his creation.

Make a list of the child’s likes and dislikes:
Make a list of what foods your child likes and dislikes. See if there are any patterns in what he likes or doesn’t like. For instance, some kids may not like certain textures or food groups like meat. Work from your list to improve his variety. Take the foods he likes and build from there. If he likes macaroni and cheese but doesn’t like hamburger, try adding small amounts of hamburger to his macaroni and cheese. If he likes bananas, try banana yogurt, or banana bread, or banana pudding. Try to build his preferences from what he already likes.

Make your meals fun for kids:
Try cutting up sandwiches in fun shapes or making the foods look more appealing to your child. Be creative. Kids like to see fun shapes or dishes that look fun to eat.

When to be concerned:
Sometimes picky eating is caused by underlying health issues or may require an evaluation from a doctor or a feeding clinic. If your child is healthy and is growing properly there is usually no cause for concern; however, if your child is losing weight or falling below the fifth percentile for weight and/or height, there may be cause for concern. Other things to watch for are difficulty chewing or swallowing, vomiting after meals, excessive drooling or gagging with meals, or if your child completely refuses foods or liquids. If you are concerned that your child may have a feeding disorder discuss this with your pediatrician.

Some children are allergic to certain food. Food allergies also develop during this age only. In the age group of 3-6 years, the food allergies can be detected as the child starts eating almost every food item by this time. The children also start relishing outside food items.

Food allergy is the response of the immune system to a food that the body mistakenly believes is harmful. Once the immune system decides that a particular food is harmful, it creates specific antibodies to it. The next time the individual eats that food, the immune system releases massive amounts of chemicals, including histamine, in order to protect the body. These chemicals trigger a cascade of allergic symptoms that can affect the respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, skin, or cardiovascular system. The symptoms of food allergy are: tingling sensation in the mouth, swelling of the tongue and the throat, difficulty breathing, hives, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, drop in blood pressure, and loss of consciousness to death. Symptoms typically appear within minutes to two hours after the person has eaten the food to which he or she is allergic. Children are mainly allergic to milk, egg, peanut, walnut, cashew nut, fish, shellfish, Soya and wheat.