If you don’t have one, you’re sure to know someone who does: a busy one- or two-year-old who seems to subsist on a diet of alligator crackers and yogurt tubes. Sure, he’s willing to branch out, just as long as the Golden Arches are casting their warm glow on his nuggets and fries while Mom and Dad take shifts manning the ketchup pump like it’s the last well in the Sahara.

While this kind of eating does tend to keep parents up at night imagining their kids are developing rickets and scurvy, the good news is that picky eating is developmentally normal. “The vast majority of times, there’s nothing to worry about,” says Dr. David F. Smith, medical director of the general pediatric clinic at B.C. Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. “Very frequently, when parents believe that their child is not eating properly, doctors will pull out a growth chart and demonstrate that it’s all falling into place.”

Keep in mind that after tripling in size during her first year, your child has far less growing to do in the months that follow, so her waning appetite only makes sense. Besides, she’s just learned to walk, run and explore – and, in a toddler’s books, those are all better things to do than sit and eat.

“The important thing is that children be given a wide choice of foods – good ones from all of the food groups,” Dr. Smith says. Samara Felesky-Hunt, a registered dietitian in Calgary, agrees: “A parent’s goal is to maintain a balanced diet. Offer small quantities of a variety of things at each meal (or as often as possible) and get your kids to eat what you can; they will get a balanced diet overall in the bigger picture.” Here are some tips to help make that happen.

Be sneaky
From fashioning hand-cut sweet-potato fries to blending fruit ’n’ veggie shakes, sneaking healthy food into a picky eater’s mix is always a good way to go. Supplement soups, casseroles and quiche with puréed spinach, parsley or broccoli. Even treats can have an ulterior motive – think zucchini cake.

Substitute, substitute
Paul Skirzyk of Winnipeg is a self-described “carnivore” whose two children arbitrarily became vegetarians at an early age (at just eight months, his daughter, Arielle, would gather cheekfuls of ham and spit them right out). “Right from the get-go, no matter what meat you put in her mouth, it was sensory – she just knew,” he says. Luckily, Grandma lives close enough to share daily meals and her wealth of knowledge about alternative protein sources. Good options: baked beans on whole wheat toast, soft-cooked carrots or pita slices dipped in mild hummus, or even canned black beans straight up as a protein finger food.

Play up presentation
Toronto dad of three Peter Norman has had great success getting his kids to eat by playing food “dress-up.” Broccoli with a bit of white salad dressing becomes “trees with snow,” he says. Your picky toddler won’t eat anything healthy? Try this mango hedgehog: slice a big chunk off a mango, just shy of the pit, criss-cross cut it not quite through and turn the slice inside out (go to www.freshmangos.com/aboutmangos for an illustration). Decorate with raisins or dried cranberries for eyes and a nose.

Let him steal
From your plate, that is. Sometimes food is a lot more interesting when it’s about to be eaten by Mom or Dad. When you think his meal is over, you might find that he’ll wander by to see what you’ve got. Let him have a taste (“One for you, one for me…”) and you might be surprised just how quickly  it adds up to a serving or two (for instance, a toddler-sized serving of cheese is only about the size of a nine-volt battery).

Relax
Your kid’s one of those who won’t be fooled by any kind of happy-face salad or dinosaur-shaped grilled cheese? Take heart. Picky tots almost always eat more than their frazzled parents think. And chances are almost nil that he’ll depart for university with a suitcase full of Farley’s Biscuits, we promise.