Looking for tips to get them to eat more of a variety

So we eat the basics - pasta, chx nuggets, hotdogs, rice, noodles, sandwiches (PB, grilled cheese and egg salad) and most breakfast foods. It is time to start eating more things. Does anyone have any tips for getting them to try things?
I will admit I have fallen into the rut of making them what they will eat. DH and I will be the first to admit that when it comes to eating, we would not do well with the "this is what you get and that's it" approach to eating new foods. We offer them things and when they say no and that's the end of it. We have tried the you will get dessert if you eat one bite and they don't really care.

Any suggestions?

 

No suggestions...We're in the exact same boat!

Well, I did read somewhere to continue to offer the things they will eat, but also offer other things along with it. That way they get used to the new things a little at a time, instead of being faced with an entire plate of something they don't want. We try to play up the try a bite of mommy's game and sometimes that helps.

I'm looking forward to some tips as well.

 

No help. I have 5 year olds who won't try anything new unless it was made by hershey's. We did do a star chart at age 3 & they got a star for eating 2 bites of something new. When they got 5 stars, they picked out a small toy from the dollar store. This worked for a while.

 

I try to make meals I think we can all eat. For example, I won't make like shrimp scampi but I would make chicken broccoli and ziti. They will eat some of the chicken, definitely the pasta and one of my boys, the broccoli. We eat a lot of fruit and they do seem to eat things with hamburg as well as pork chop meat. I will give them a banana or something if they don't eat well for dinner.

I wish I could give you better advice. Kids are SOOOOOO picky at this age!!! :hug: