All parents have experienced the “more pasta please” before they have even touched their peas “problem.” What can you do?

First, understand that most children aren’t deliberately and consciously avoiding the neglected food. Rather, you serve up a plate of food and your kids dive right into their favorites. Then, they want more of their favorites. Who doesn’t? The solution is to teach the One-One Technique.

There is a nuanced (but significant) difference between overlooking non-preferred foods and actively avoiding them. It’s all about motives. Most kids don’t think there is any reason not to eat what they want to eat most, not just first, but exclusively.

The upshot? Kids aren’t being bad, cunning, conning, sly or deceitful. Rather, they need to learn a different (and I’d say better) reason for eating a different way.

One-One, the technique that teaches children to eat some of everything.

One-One is simple. Are you ready for it? You might need to take notes!

One bite of this. One bite of that, going around the plate. That’s it.

Yes, it’s simple. Yes, it might even seem silly. But you know what? It works.

Using One-One When Serving 2 Foods

  • One bite of pasta.
  • One bite of peas.
  • One bite of pasta.
  • One bite of peas.

Using One-One When Serving 3 Foods

  • One bite of chicken.
  • One bite of broccoli.
  • One bite of rice.
  • One bite of chicken.
  • One bite of broccoli.
  • One bite of rice.

No need to actually keep count. If your kids eat one bite of this and two bites of that nothing bad will happen. It’s the idea you want to teach. Everything will be fine as long as the basic concept is implemented.

Three Lessons Kids Needs to Learn Before Using One-One

  1. It is important to eat a little of everything before eating all of anything.  Because…
  2. Different foods have different things that are good for use. Unfortunately…
  3. You never know when you’re going to be full. But, if you do One-One, it doesn’t really matter.

Teaching One-One is a Process.

  • Explicitly teach your kids One-One.
  • Remind them to use One-One at meals.
  • If they don’t, let it go. And remind them again tomorrow.

For more read, My child asks for seconds of pasta before she’s even touched her peas. What Should I do? and How to Serve Seconds Without Hurting Kids’ Habits.

~Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits.~