This is a great approach if you have fairly flexible kids, which it sounds like you have. But pickiness can be extreme. For example, my boss’s kid hates anything except dry, plain carbohydrate. Pasta without butter, dry toast.
My girlfriend works as an occupational therapist. For kids with severe food issues, they take a sensory approach. They identify which specific aspects of food trigger aversion and desensitize kids to those triggers in a gradual and indirect way.
For example, many kids have trouble with “mess:” tacky, liquid, sticky sensations that are a party of many food items. To overcome this, they do “messy play,” which might involve having kids touch shaving cream and work their way up to spreading it around.
My girlfriend works as an occupational therapist. For kids with severe food issues, they take a sensory approach. They identify which specific aspects of food trigger aversion and desensitize kids to those triggers in a gradual and indirect way.
For example, many kids have trouble with “mess:” tacky, liquid, sticky sensations that are a party of many food items. To overcome this, they do “messy play,” which might involve having kids touch shaving cream and work their way up to spreading it around.