Q+A: Is It Okay to Bribe My Picky Eater?

Find out which tactics are best for helping your kid to eat well.

By Claire Lerner

Q. I've found that bribing my picky toddler with dessert gets him to eat healthy foods first most of the time. Is it okay to do this?

A. Children can be picky eaters for many reasons. Temperamentally, they may be extra-sensitive to tastes and textures or they may hesitate to try new things. Toddlers may also act picky as a way to assert their independence. But bribing kids to eat, while tempting, is not a good idea in the long run. Kids who learn how to make deals over carrots will soon start bargaining about brushing their teeth or bedtime. In time, they won't do anything unless they get a reward. Not to mention that you're sending the wrong message about food -- that cookies are good and vegetables undesirable.

Instead, try offering your child the foods that you've made for dinner at the same time you offer dessert. Let him know that this is his dinner and it's his choice as to what and how much of it he eats. Research shows that when parents make the sugary treat part of the meal rather than a reward, children learn to eat healthier.

Don't worry if at first he eats only the cookie and one piece of carrot. He won't keep that up forever. And giving your son choices will eliminate any parent-child power struggles over food. When your son says he is done, trust that he knows his own body.

Keep in mind that parents often have to offer a new food as many as 10 to 15 times before their child will even try it. So keep the green beans comin' -- someday soon your son may come around.

Rebecca Parlakian, also of Zero to Three, contributed to this column.

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