Don’t turn meals into a power struggle
Resist the urge to order your kid to eat her peas. She might end up wanting to avoid that food for life. The same goes for pressuring or bargaining with her — “you can only have dessert if you clean your plate.”
Instead, let her make her own decisions. “You can discuss the benefits of certain foods,” Lemond says. “With my son, I explained how eating broccoli could help him with his goal of being a good soccer player.”