By Claire Symonds

Children are notoriously fussy eaters and training children to eat their greens is the stuff of nightmares for most parents. An innocent piece of broccolli or carrot can quickly result in a chaos of temper tantrums as the little darlings try to persuade that the bit of chocolate cake you let them try yesterday really should form the basis of their entire diet.

As most parents know, there is a fine line between persuasion and force feeding and few people have been encouraged to drastically change eating habits by being forced to sit at the dinner table until every morsel on their plate is finished. So how do you go about teaching your children to enjoy a variety of different foods and steer them away from the path of turkey twizlers and chips?

Palate training is the new hot phrase in the world of healthy eating and increasing numbers of parents, despairing as to how to get their children to eat a varied and healthy diet, are using this method to get their little ones to enjoy their greens.

Palate training can start at any age but enthusiasts believe that the earlier you can start the better, even if as early as the weaning stages with babies. Rather than simply introducing solid food it teaches children how to taste, recognise and actually appreciate good food.

Essentially palate training involves serving children food, which:

• awakens their senses of taste, touch, smell and sight
• stimulates their salty, sweet, bitter and sour tastebuds
• exposes them to lots of different textures
• is visually exciting, in a rainbow of colours
• includes all the main food groups in appropriate portions
• allows them to explore, experiment and discover for themselves

The idea behind palate training is that, very simply, by serving a variety of food types, tastes and textures children will simply become more used to trying new foods and will develop tastes accordingly.

However this can often be easier said than done and the recently launched Good Food Village Trust, a charity dedicated to promoting palate training, recommends that parent start palate training as early as possible, as the younger children are, the more easily they will adapt to different foods. They have a number of hints and tips on their website as to how to start palate training and have also developed a game that will help introduce the concept to them. Click here for the instruction.

The Good Food Trust has also produced a list of top tips for parents wishing to trial this method with their own children.

DO

• Do make food fun - arrange the food in an interesting way, i.e. face or boat shapes.
• Do eat together - hectic lives mean children often eat separately and have different meals to their parents, but fish fingers, chicken nuggets and other typical kids foods won't teach your child about variety and good nutrition. So make the same meal for everyone and show your child you are enjoying your food so they are more likely to follow your lead.
• Do serve up a wide variety of food - some children can be turned off eating through boredom of being faced with the same meals every week. Offer brightly coloured foods with mild flavours and interesting textures.
• Do get your child involved - let him or her help you shop for food and choose something they like, then they can help you prepare it.
• Do encourage them to try new things - a 'taste' can be as small as half a teaspoon. Let your child try something from your plate, which can often be more tempting than if you put the food on their own plate.
• Do be a good role model - make sure your attitude to food is positive, and you eat healthily yourself. If your child sees you skipping meals because you're dieting, or frequently tucking into the chocolate biscuits, then they are likely to copy your habits.

DONT

• Don't rush feeding - keep to your child's pace. Babies & young children need to learn how to move food from the front of their tongue to the back and swallow. Solid food tastes and feels different to them so allow time for them to get used to it.
• Don't be afraid to keep trying - food fads may be short lived. Offer the rejected foods to your child every couple of weeks.
• Don't overload your child's plate - big portions can be overwhelming. You can always provide second helpings if they ask.
• Don't force your child to finish a meal. Instead, tackle the reasons why - do they understand when they have had enough food or have they been snacking before the meal?
• Don't bribe or reward your child with food as this can lead to unhealthy eating habits later in life - give kisses, cuddles and praise instead.

Incorporating these simple palate training tips could be the key to preventing and curbing fussy eating habits - so start today and encourage a healthy food attitude for life.

The Good Food Village Trust helps fund activities that parents or groups might come up with that encourage palate training in a fun way. Applications can be made on the website, www.goodfoodvillagetrust.co.uk