If you prepare your child’s school lunch, you want it to include the healthy nutrients they need to promote energy and mental stamina, but you also want to give them something fun, tasty and enjoyable. This can be a particular challenge if your child is a picky eater.

Here are a few tips that may come in handy when you prepare your child’s next lunchbox:

Get their input. Sit down with your child and ask them what they like to eat. Make a list of items the two of you can agree upon – such as fruits, veggies, proteins, whole grains and low-fat dairy products. Together, you and your child can create an appealing menu that you can pull from all year round.

Enlist their help. Your child is more likely to enjoy lunchtime at school if they actually take part in creating it. Use the weekend to prepare your child’s lunches for the upcoming week, and enlist their assistance in doing so.

Make Eats a Treat. Healthy foods don’t have to be boring. Sandwiches and other items that fill your child’s lunch bag can be presented in fun and unique shapes, for instance. Search the grocery store aisles for the most inventive presentations of common food items that will work to keep your child engaged and entertained during lunch time. Choose menu items like cheese and whole-grain crackers as an alternative to the everyday and ordinary.

Source: Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics