By the time your child is two, it’s important to have created an environment where eating is fun and enjoyable because long term food hang-ups can begin early.

Top 10 Tips

1. Two year olds love attention, positive or negative. The more fuss you make about eating, the more fuss they’ll make, and the longer it will go on.

2. Avoid arguing with your child over food, and avoid bribery or forcing them to eat.

3. Simply remove the food to indicate that meal-time is over; they’ll be hungry next meal-time.

4. It’s good fun involving your child in the growing and preparation of food. They’ll enjoy chopping, stirring and mixing.

5. There are unlimited ways to present food. Get creative!

6. Two year olds like to be independent, and it’s important they have some choice.

7. By offering two food choices, both of which you’re happy with, it’s a win-win situation and stops them saying ‘no’ automatically.

8. It’s helpful if you think of an eating period as 24 or 48 hours rather than getting hung up on your child not eating one meal. Children have days where they eat well, and others where they don’t.

9. Your child may drop their daytime sleep around now and consequently may be very tired by the end of the day. Moving dinner earlier or shifting the main meal to lunchtime for a while may help everyone survive!

10. Try to sit down to eat with your child for at least one meal a day. It creates an opportunity for the whole family to pause from the busyness of the day and reconnect with each other. The investment you make now is likely to pay off in the future, particularly in the adolescent years.