I keep seeing articles that say things like, “6 Words That Will End Picky Eating”. Sometimes they make me laugh at the naïveté of the person writing them. Sometimes they make me mad. Because for about a second I buy into it and think what am I doing wrong?
I think after seeing these articles, “Are you kidding me? Have you met an Autistic child?” There are no magic 6 words that will cure picky eating. Some kids with Autism will actually starve themselves rather than eat a food that doesn’t smell, taste, feel or look right. They literally end up in the hospital with feeding tubes. Remember when your 3-year-old wouldn’t eat their snack because it broke and it was no longer whole? Try that with a 10-year-old who is 100 lbs and only has 3-6 foods they will eat, which is actually pretty common with children with Autism. With a lot of work, heartache, bribing, and tears, you can add more items to their diet but 6 words ain’t going to cut it.
Maybe it’s different with children without special needs. But it doesn’t seem so in all my years of working with children. It may not be as difficult as it is for a child with Autism or Sensory Issues, to get them to eat something new or different but 6 words aren’t going to cut it.
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