It’s no to fussy eaters but YES to foodies

Her children are adventurous eaters... but it’s no fluke.

After a childhood for herself and younger sister marked by mealtime battles over fussy eating, Claire made a vow that things would be different when she had her own children.

“I was determined to make the dinner table a happy place. I wanted food and eating to be only a positive thing.

“I didn’t want tension, negotiations, arguments, orders, punishment or tears – and I didn’t want fussiness.

“They felt interconnected to me,” said Claire, who lives in Witney with husband James Greenan and children Fred and Lola.

“If the emphasis was on the enjoyment of food, wouldn’t my children be less fussy?”

The answer was a resounding yes and now Claire, a former teacher of English as a foreign language (TEFL) who works at home as a writer of TEFL material, is sharing the way she did it.

She has written a book called Getting The Little Blighters To Eat which promises to “change your children from fussy eaters into foodies”.

It consists of 30 rules including forget everything your mother (or grandmother) told you; Don’t use pudding as a reward or punishment; Don’t buy into the idea of ‘children’s food’; Keep introducing them to new and unfamiliar food; Go easy on the praise and relax about table manners.

“Getting the Little Blighters to Eat came from what I did with my own children, right from the start, to make them non-fussy, happy, healthy, adventurous eaters,” said Claire. “I wanted to share what I did with other parents, especially as fussy eating is such a widespread problem in the UK. It gives parents a set of clear, simple, powerful rules to follow.”

The rules have certainly worked with Fred, who had no problem eating a pigeon heart while he was on a bushcraft course, and Lola, who loves dried squid. “She’s adopted from China so she might have something in her genes,” joked Claire.

In her book Claire, who put her plan into action from the time she weaned Fred, said: “I have a teenage son who has always eaten absolutely everything except raw tomato and a seven-year-old daughter who is very happy with whatever comes her way but never touches beetroot. They are both full of interest in, and enthusiasm for, food.”

That’s not the case in general.

Claire consulted NHS specialist paediatric dietitian Anna Groom while writing the book.

In the foreword Anna said: “Fussy eating among children is a widespread problem in the UK.

“At last count, it accounted for nearly 50 per cent of our general clinic referrals and when we see them the parents are often desperate and at their wits end.”

She said fussy eating was a combination of a child’s developing independence and control and the parents’ reaction to it.

It’s something Claire agreed was key.

“Fussy eating for the most part isn’t about food at all, it’s about power. That’s the main message of the book and most of the rules are aspects of that,” said Claire.

One of the rules is Give Up Your Power where she suggests: “Don’t invite children to a power battle in the first place. When it comes to eating, behave as if you have no power. Just simply give your child their food and act as if you don’t mind whether they eat it or not.”

She argues that it won’t take long for children to realise there is more pleasure to eating their food if there is no power or attention to be got for not doing so.

Another strong message is lots of different foods – whether they eat them or not – and to enjoy meal times.

“It’s about setting up the conditions which encourage and develop a positive, relaxed and open-minded attitude to food,” said Claire. “conditions in which fussiness becomes irrelevant.”

Getting the Little Blighters to Eat is published by Bloomsbury and costs £4.99.