Photo: tiffanywashko, Flickr

Bento lunchboxes aren't scary. Really. A bento lunch can replace that sandwich-in-a-baggie-with-chips carbo blast with a portion-right, colorful array of nutritious foods. No baggies or bags to toss, and fancy rice balls are not required. Read on to take the mystery out of bento and get your kids beaming at lunchtime.

Picky Eaters Love Food Picks. Stop beating yourself up, you probably didn't create a picky eater -- your child may have been finicky right from the womb. A bento lunch can provide just what a picky eater likes, and accoutrements like food picks encourage a choosey kid to eat -- the right stuff. Try stacking grapes and banana slices, cheese and apples, edamame and carrot circles. Have fun with it.

Bento Tools. On-line sources such as O'Bento Lunch 4 Kidz and Bento Crazy have all sorts of fun trinkets for sale, including this Sanrio Cinnamoroll egg mold. Place a warm, peeled hard-boiled egg into the mold, snap it shut, pop in the fridge and all the cafeteria kids will come running to check out this funky shaped egg. Kids love squirting ranch on their carrots or vinaigrette on a small bento salad with these Puppy Smile sauce bottles. Food-touching-food freakouts can be prevented with bento bins or divider cups.

If you've ever tried to feed a young child dinner more than one night in a row, then you know how I feel. Last week, my two-year-old loved broccoli and scarfed down three toddler-sized servings of it. Tonight, she took one look and howled her displeasure, while her sister -- who was formerly a broccoli-resister -- ate hers with pleasure.

A recent study of infants -- both breastfed and non-breastfed -- found that even a very young baby will eventually try and then enjoy a vegetable after repeated exposure to it. Researchers who led the study say this confirms what nutritionists have been saying for years. Keep trying, keep trying, keep trying.

Sage advice. Cauliflower is on the menu tomorrow night, wish me luck.

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Are you a picky eater? I would say no because I'm always willing to try new dishes, but I try to avoid cauliflower, onions and mayonaise whenever I can -- they're the quirky foods that I dislike, and I think everyone has one or two of these. But I know some really picky people -- one of my friends will only order chicken fingers and fries at a restaurant.

Anthropologist Jane Kauer took an extensive look at picky eaters these days, and based on her findings, one third of people are unusually picky, few are extremely, and the rest of the population is only mildly picky. But there are a few things that almost every person likes. Want to know what they are?

• Fried chicken
• French fries
• Chocolate chip cookies
• Kraft Macaroni and Cheese

So, to sum up, the only really widely accepted foods are junk foods. It's unfortunate that no veggies or fruits made the list. I for one avoid the above items almost all the time -- what about you?

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Have you had good luck in getting that picky eater at the table to eat more than sugary, salty and sweet snacks? You are not alone. What happens when vegetables are thrown next to something else on that picky eater's plate? The universe can implode.

But kids need the best nutrition of almost all people. After all, kids continue developing until those awkward teenage years, and proper nutrition is immensely helpful in propagating that development, right?

Starting off kids right with nutritious foods right from the start is very important. But the independence of certain kids and other psychological issues can come into play. Want to see possible solutions? See this and hopefully there will be a good takeaway that works for you.

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Most parents have faced the "picky eater" in one or more of their children. It's not easy trying to get that good nutrition down the throats of kids who prefer sugared breakfast cereal and french fries over everything else.

Are there solutions to the picky eater in your family? Sure there are -- but it takes patience and creativity like anything else that deals with getting kids to do what they really need to do (like cleaning those rooms!).

Anyway, here are some great tips from the University of California, San Francisco on getting those kids ready to eat better by using methods that lead them to the right choices.

• Give your child a variety of foods to choose from, including a fruit, vegetable, protein and starch. Don't only offer foods you know your child will eat.
• Don't give your child too many high-calorie drinks, which could fill her up and keep her from wanting to eat.
• Stick to a meal schedule, so that your child will be hungry at mealtime.
• Keep meals pleasant, in an environment free of TV, argument or stressful conversation.
• If your child won't eat, don't prepare a different meal just to satisfy her. She'll have another opportunity to eat at her next meal in a few hours.
• Continue offering your child foods that she has once refused. Her eating habits may change.

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I am sure I'm not alone in feeling the frustrations of feeding a child and trying to feed that child healthy foods. It's just too easy to slip into a grilled cheese/spaghetti/taco rut and even easier to just delete veggies from a picky kid's plate.

My own kid could survive on syrup and hummus (yes, probably served together), I haven't given up just yet. I'm still determined to teach my young ones to eat well and enjoy many kinds of food. That's why I'm loving a new feature on ParentCenter.com called Kitchen Confidential: Meal time secrets from top chef parents. The famous, featured chefs (and their offspring) weigh in on feeding picky eaters, sneaking in the good-for-you stuff, staples you need to keep stocked in your own kitchen and other tips that will help parents feed their children well.

While the info isn't revolutionary by any means, it certainly is inspiring. So much so that I may just scratch take-out Thai from tonight's menu and see if what I can sneak in mix up for a better dinner with the kiddo tonight.

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Ever wonder if what your serving your kids measures up nutritionally? Check out this article on the best and worst foods for kids. Chicken nuggets, pop-tarts, lunchables and fruit leather all made the worst list, while the best list was dominated by (not surprisingly) fruit, veggies, whole grains and healthy dairy products.

I don't have kids, but I imagine that when it comes to feeding them, parents sometimes don't get a 100% say in what they eat, as lots of kids are picky and will refuse to eat anything but fries, chicken nuggets, etc. Tell me parents, is this the case? And if so, how do you get your child to eat healthfully?

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