TikTok Parents Share Simple Hack for Dealing With Picky Eater & It's a Game-Changer
For so many parents, mealtime is one of the more stressful aspects of the day. For some reason, getting their picky kids to eat what's on their plates is a giant ordeal. Sometimes there's a reason for the picky eater's limited interest in food (such as sensory processing issues). Other times, kids just want to eat what they want – and often, that doesn't mean a healthy dinner that's been made for them and sitting on their plate.
Two parents have found a solution that works for them, and they're sharing it with the world.
For parents who have picky eaters at home, TikTok user Darin Nicole and her husband shared their hack to get their kids to eat the food that's offered to them on their plate.
"No options in our home," she said. Their trick may seem simple to some parents, but that's what is so genius about this idea that they've been working with for some time.
Their food plan doesn't prevent the kids from eating the food they really want to eat.
Yes, their kids can still have chips and cookies and snacks and junk food they really want. But only after they've eaten the food that's been offered for a meal.
And they're not forcing the kids to clean their plates before they leave the table.
The food hack that Darin and her family use is simple: Finish your food.
Embedded content: https://www.tiktok.com/@darin_nicole/video/6813454244931276037
The family serves dinner, and the kids can choose to eat it or not. However, if they choose not to eat it – or they don't eat something on the plate — the food stays on the counter until bedtime.
"That's how it works in our house," Darin said in the video posted to TikTok that's gone viral.
"This is dinner. This is a late-night snack." Darin's husband shared.
Basically, the food they don't eat stays available for when they want food again, and that's all they get until it's gone.
"Whenever we get an 'I'm hungry,' they need to eat their food that they didn't finish at the table," the dad explained.
"They have the option. They don't have to finish it, " Darin said, "but they don't have any other options for the rest of the night."
So if the kids just don't want to eat their rice because a cookie sounds better – too bad. If they wanted to only eat the chicken and leave the broccoli but find themselves hungry an hour later – they can eat the broccoli.
Although the comments are turned off, it is clear people love this.
We're sure they turned off the comments because everyone has an opinion on how other people parent, but given how many times it was given a heart like, it's clear this hack resonated with parents.
The TikTok video has gone viral with 430,000 likes on the "parenting 101" picky eater hack video. We're going to add this to our list — along with the one water cup per child per day idea too.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
| FAMILY & PARENTING