Make eating vegetables fun!
Kids tend to get a bad impression of vegetables from the beginning of their childhood. They see adults turn their nose up at vegetable dishes, and eat from everything on the table but skip on the salad. From an early age, make eating vegetables fun! My girls really enjoy arranging vegetable faces on their plates. Teach your children to associate vegetables with fun and give them a good impression of eating them!
Be an example
In my opinion, being an example is the most important thing. Your children will find vegetables much more appealing if they see mom eat them with delight often. I repeat, your children must see you eating and enjoying vegetables.
When my oldest daughter was just 2, she would watch my mom snack on vegetables and eat delicious salads every day. My mother really made her vegetables and salads look inviting. My daughter began asking my mom for bites of her food – she figured that if grandma was enjoying her vegetables so much, then she should too! It wasn’t long before my daughter wanted her own plates of vegetables every day to munch on. I realized through my mom’s example that the best way to get my children to eat vegetables was to be their example!
Start young
Begin introducing raw vegetables to your children as young as possible. If kids are pumped full of sweets and unhealthy foods from the start, they will not have an appetite for healthier foods. As soon as your child is old enough, offer plates of cut up vegetables, but don’t be discouraged if they don’t enjoy them right away; it may take quite a while for young ones to want raw vegetables, but keep offering them and eat them yourself with a smile. 🙂
Picky eaters
I don’t force my girls to eat every vegetable there is. They don’t have to eat vegetables that they just do not have a taste for. One of my daughters does not like cucumbers, and another one gags at tomatoes. I do not force my girls to eat a vegetable that they just don’t like. They do, however, have to find vegetables that they do like, and eat them daily. If you start your children young in eating vegetables, and they see mom enjoying them, most children will like the basic vegetables.
If your children are older and you did not start them young in eating vegetables, you could offer a special treat to them if they eat a certain amount of raw vegetables, like dark chocolate chips, or a homemade treat of some kind. Over time, you want to work toward them enjoying vegetables daily without the reward incentive.
This recipe and photo is used with permission from Angela at Hidden Treasures
{Can add onion powder, garlic powder, and Italian herbs but we normally just use salt and pepper}
Mix all the ingredients together and serve.
What ways do you get your kids to eat more vegetables?
I think your advice about making raw veggies appealing is right on target!
My 8-year-old likes a lot of vegetable-based cooked foods. He’s not so keen on things like pasta salads with chunks of identifiable vegs–he will pick out some of the vegs–but he likes saucy, seasoned foods even if they are predominately vegetable. Some of his favorites are Red & Green Pockets, Indian Lentils with Carrots, and Sweet Potato Burritos which also can be made with squash or pumpkin.
Your recipes sound great! Thanks for sharing!
Love your ideas, Jill! Thank you so much for sharing! Encouraging kids to eat veggies is definitely a challenge for most parents. So these tips are certain to be of help. Blessings, Kelly
Thanks Kelly! 🙂
I love how the French handle picky eaters (about veggies, fruit, fish, whatever)…instead of assuming (like Americans do) that their kids don’t like something, they assume they don’t like it YET. And then they just keep on trying it until they’ll eat it. The rule in our house is that they have to try whatever is on their plate, but they don’t have to like it. If they don’t like it, I just say, “That’s ok…maybe you’ll like it better the next time you try it.” and just move on.
That’s a great way to handle it, Elizabeth. We can eventually convince them to like veggies, can’t we? 😉
Jill, I have recently made it a long-term goal 🙂 to incorporate more veggies in our diet, moving away from meats and dairy. This will be a very slow, gradual process because every one of us loves meat and cheese. I’m pinning this post because you’ve got some great suggestions here that will help us along on our journey to better food health. Thanks so much!
Keri @ Growing in His Glory
Sounds like a great goal, Keri. Thanks for pinning!
Here’s another method that has worked for me and has also helped introduce new things – put it on a “stick”. http://nckyola.blogspot.com/2013/05/hey-mikey.html
Thanks for sharing, Nikki!
I was also going to suggest putting it on a stick! Kids will eat just about anything if it’s on a toothpick or a skewer. 🙂
For my daughter, I also splurge on “baby” vegetables: mini cucumbers, grape tomatoes, mini peppers, etc. Not sure why, but she finds those much more appealing than large ones cut up.
Then put those two tips together: a slice of cucumber, a ring of pepper, and a tiny tomato, maybe with a little cube of cheese as well – put those ON A TOOTHPICK, and she goes crazy for it!!