Feeding your child may be a challenge. Food preferences and hectic schedules often leave parents wondering what to do at mealtime, especially if children are picky eaters. Some parents worry because their child eats small amounts of food. If your children are gaining weight and height, have energy, and are resistant or recover from infections, they're probably getting enough to eat.

Good nutrition begins at home with a balanced diet. A balanced diet includes foods from each food group on the Food Guide Pyramid.

1. Breads, cereals, rice and pasta or grains
2. Fruit
3. Vegetables
4. Milk, yogurt, cheese
5. Meat, poultry, fish, dried beans, egg and nuts
6. Fat and sweets group in moderation.

Growing children need a variety of foods to provide the vitamins and minerals for growth and development. Fat may be restricted after the age of two.

Dealing with the picky eater is sometimes tricky! Food should not be used as a reward for good behavior or withheld as punishment. When you use food in this way, eating becomes a contest, an emotional experience. An over emphasis on food may lead to eating problems.

Here are tips to ensure that your child is eating a balanced diet:

FOOD PREPARATION

• Let youth help prepare the meal. They'll be more likely to eat it.
• Serve small food portions and cut food into small bites to fit small mouths.
• Make it look more appetizing by including a variety of colors.
• Make food fun; children enjoy helping to decorate pizza, or arrange crackers, or fruit pieces.
• Try different ways to prepare the same food. You can put unpopular foods into favorites, such as adding grated carrots to meatballs.
• Avoid making an issue about your food preferences.

SERVING FOOD AT THE TABLE

• Do not force your child to eat. Instead, provide regularly scheduled meals and snack times.
• Determine food portions based on your child's age. For children under 5 years of age, try one tablespoon of each item for every year of your child's age.
• Make mealtime and snack time a pleasant event. Try to avoid television and stereo distractions. Eat with your child. Be a role model.

Let your child feed his or herself. Making a mess is normal for young children. A child is also developing hand eye coordination. Cover the floor and table with a washable material. Cover your child's clothing with a "bib".

Parents are responsible for what is presented to eat, but the children are responsible for what they decide to eat. Research has proven that the amount of calories that children eat varies widely from meal to meal, even when two meals consist of the same foods. This implies that children have an internally controlled appetite, and healthy children will, over time, eat the amount of food that is right for them.

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