Featuring Lisa Bunnage, Parenting Coach

Duration: 1 minute, 41 seconds

Toddlers normally go through a stage where they become really fussy and they don't want to eat healthy stuff.

They just want to live on junk food. So it's up to you to provide fussy eaters with nothing but healthy stuff until they go back to eating healthy stuff! If you are having a really bad spell with your little toddler and he or she is not eating or drinking anything that's healthy and all they want is all the junk food, you just have to eliminate it from their diet.

No juice, no milk, no treats, and no sugar. Just give them fruit and vegetables and bread and water and all the healthy stuff. A little toddler will never starve themselves to death.

Some things that you can do to encourage fussy eaters to eat healthy foods is get them involved in the preparation of the healthy food. Try and make it almost like a cooking party - little kids love parties. Do whatever you have to do to make eating healthy look exciting.

There's a difference between a little toddler who is a fussy eater and one who has no appetite. You should be very concerned if they have no appetite and don't even want junk food. If they say 'I want chips' and 'I want chocolate' then they've still got an appetite and that's okay. If they don't want anything you take them right to the doctor as that's a bit of a red flag.

They may go off track a little bit when they're teenagers, but basically they'll come back to where they're comfortable, and that's healthy eating.

If you have questions about deeply troubled teens, contact a local parenting coach.

Presenter: Ms. Lisa Bunnage, Counselor, Coquitlam, BC

Local Practitioners: Counselor