If dinner time is drama time at your house, you’re not alone.

All parents of young children can tell stories about the tears, the NOs!, the picked over plates, the refusals to sit down, the dropped food and turned over bowls … the list of potential eating problems in little ones goes on and on. And unfortunately, sometimes the best advice you will get is just “wait it out” – they are children, after all!

But it’s not just a matter of waiting until they’re teens and hoping they’ll outgrow it. Here are some concrete steps that you can take now, while your kids are in the early eating years, that will set them on the right path for healthy eating for years to come.