Mention you’ve got a picky eater to a fellow parent, and the choruses of “me too!” come quick. Some fed-up parents—embarrassed, at their wits’ end or worried about their children’s nutrition—are hiring picky-eater coaches to expand their kids’ palates.
Leslie Springer was tired of acting like a short-order cook for her twin girls in second grade and daughter in preschool. Day-Glo orange mac and cheese was a staple. Snacks consisted of Goldfish crackers, Cheez-Its, potato chips and Oreos. Her girls devoured french fries but wouldn’t touch other kinds of potatoes. She would offer cauliflower and carrots only to get rebuffed.
Ms. Springer sought help from food coach Tara Roscioli, who had recently begun a Fit Moms group in New Jersey geared at encouraging healthier choices for mothers. Ms. Roscioli suggested some initial substitutions: steel-cut oats with a pinch of brown sugar and raisins instead of heavily presweetened oatmeal packets. Brown rice instead of white rice. Apple chips instead of potato chips.
“When Tara suggested this, I thought, ‘This is never going to happen,’ ” says Ms. Springer, a clinical social worker in Maplewood, N.J.