How do children develop their eating habits?

I have to admit that my child is an amazing eater for a 3 years old. I often wonder why as I know so many parents struggling to get their children eat vegetables and fruits. I ask my husband and he gives me this look of “don’t you know??” Yes, I breastfed my child, made all of her baby food from seasonal and organic veggies and fruits. She eats what we eat now with us for breakfast lunch and dinner. We rarely buy processed food or snacks. We take weekly trips to farmer’s market every week, sometimes two markets per week. But still, I wonder if that is all it takes for this little girl to eat pretty much everything that we feed her. Of course, she is 3 years old and she loves to eat chips and cookies and candies. She goes to daycare and she goes to birthday parties where she gets conventional snacks with a lot of sugar and colorings. But she does give up her candy for carrots at the farmer’s market. She does not want to eat any candies that makes her tongue and mouth green or blue. But i still think that I just got lucky. I am currently 7 months pregnant and if this baby turns out to be as amazing eater as my first one, yes, I am convinced that it is how we feed our children that makes the difference. And I so hope that that is the case.
I also have a great eater as my husband. When we first met, he had not have developed taste buds that he has now. I remember the first time he made lunch for me. He made marinated chicken, white rice and boiled carrots. He told me he liked eating vegetables with his meal. And next time he cooked, he again made boiled carrots. I tell this story to many people with feelings of love, because I thought it was very cute, and I now look at my husband who became somewhat of food snob/or food connoisseur with proud.
During my dating period in my 20’th, I had a few rule about dating. The guy has to speak another language other than English, and the guy has to eat what I cook, and be an adventurous eater. I went out with a guy who sniffed the meal I cooked, a guy who left all of the vegetables on the plate, and a guy who would not eat anything but meat and bread. All of them, I did not feel the vibe and did not see them after one date. My husband, although he does not speak another language, would try pretty much anything, and he always try what I make. plus he believes that I am a great cook.
Having dinner together is therefore not a problem at all in my family. Growing up, we always had dinner together. My mother cooked and still cooks every day, and my father loves my mother’s food. So we all sit at the same table and eat the same food. Only exception was that my mother always made something extra (and special) for my father because he had his sake or beer at the dinner table. So when I married and started being around with my husband’s family, I was puzzled by the concept of “kid’s food” or “kid’s table”. We did not have children for 4 years but his siblings all had children between the ages of 2 and 21. Whenever we had Thanksgiving or Christmas, children would sit at the tables that were set in the garage while adults sit inside the house. Or when we would go to a restaurant, all the kids sit together and adults sit together. I know that many families do that, and it is totally normal. But for me, I always felt unease. So I had to kindly protest when it was suggested that my 2 years old sit on her small toddler table to eat while others eat at the big table for family get together.
I strongly believe that it is important for children to see what adults, especially parents or any caregivers close to them eat. Most of the time, they would like to eat what they see us eat. Monkeys do what monkeys see. I guess. If you are a picky eater, you would have a tough luck with making your children eat anything that you do not like to eat like vegetables and fruits. We of course do not control everything my daughter eats. She goes to daycare, and does eat packaged food. I used to make lunch box for her to take until she was about 2 and a half year old. We decided to let my daughter eat what daycares feed because she was conscious enough of what her friends eat, and we did not want her to feel different. We try our best not to buy packaged food or packaged snacks. We really limit our visit to mega grocery stores, and we shop at farmer’s market and smaller healthy food stores for other groceries.
So I think from my experience, there are a few things we as parents can do to help our children develop a healthy eating habits.

1. Assess your eating habit. If it does not follow what you are teaching your children, then fix it.
2. Have family meals as much as possible.
3. Feed your children what you eat, and stay away from “kid’s friendly meals”.
4. Limit your purchase of conventional packaged food.
5. Go to farmer’s market to let your children experience variety of produce.


Happy Eating!