We all start out with the best intentions, don’t we? “We’re going to eat dinner as a family.” “We’re all going to eat the same meal.” “My kids aren’t going to eat junk.” Maybe even, “I’m going to make my own baby food.” And these are all wonderful aspirations! I hope you are lucky enough to have achieved at least one of them. (I think I have acheived just one, but I keep trying.) We have to set the bar high for ourselves. Yet, when all your kid wants to eat is Goldfish and you can’t remember the last time he ate a vegetable, don’t be too hard on yourself.
But now that we’ve gotten ourselves into this nutritional mess, is there any hope for a brighter future? Yes! Yes there is!
I am a firm believer in do what you can, but don’t make yourself crazy. So, here are 10 ways to get your kids to eat more vegetables without making yourself stressed out about it….
10 Easy Ways to Get Your Kids to Eat More Vegetables
- Eat vegetables. Yes, you. This may be super easy for you and if so, good. But if you’re not a lover of veggies the bad news is you still have to eat them. If your kids don’t see you eating veggies, they’re not likely to eat veggies. Set a good example. Hopefully, the next 9 tips will help you learn to like them more, too 🙂
- Roast them. Load ’em up with olive oil (you can start paring back on the oil once you’ve gotten over the initial vegetable hurdle) and be generous with salt, add some pepper, and be generous again with some grated parmesan cheese. Spread them out in a single layer on a baking pan/cookie sheet and roast at 420 degrees for about 40 minutes. Stir and/or flip them around halfway. Works great with cauliflower, broccoli, butternut squash, even brussels sprouts.
- Put out raw veggies at dinner time. Just put out a bowl of baby carrots or sliced bell peppers. Sometimes I’m shocked at how many veggies get eaten this way! If my kids are hounding me about being hungry, they might even start picking on them before dinner.
- Count them. Appeal to our inner desire to check off boxes and meet quotas. Let them know how many servings of veggies they should be eating each day to be healthy. Get them involved in making sure they meet that. One day at dinner my kids wanted to know how many carrots they had to eat. I wanted to shrug and say, “I don’t know, just eat the damn carrots.” But I came up with a random number in my tired, frazzled brain, and they said, “Ok.” And proceeded to eat just that number of carrots. Give them a number- maybe they need something concrete to work with.
- Sneak them in. I’m not great at this, but I know lots of parents who swear by this method. I wish I had tried it sooner; now they eye everything with suspicion. Puree them and sneak them into other dinners. Make delicious smoothies and sneak healthy stuff in there.
- Serve them first. A brilliant friend of mine, who happens to be a wonderful mother, told me about this. And, again, I wish I had heard about it sooner. She serves her kids dinner in courses, sounds kinda fancy, doesn’t it? So the “first course” is vegetables. When they finish the first course, they get the “second course”, protein. Then the “third course,” the healthy carbohydrate- potatoes, rice or whatever. Isn’t that brilliant?! When the vegetables have nothing to compete with they are more likely to get eaten! And then your kids are getting the important food in before they fill up on the less nutritionally-dense foods (like potatoes) that they probably like best.
- Let them eat dip. Lots of kids like to dip food in something- whether it’s ketchup or salad dressing or barbecue sauce or whatever. So give them their veggies with dip. Make a healthy ranch you feel good about feeding them and let them dip away! Raw broccoli, cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, even baby spinach leaves.
- Give them what they like. If all your kid likes is carrots, give him carrots. Keep introducing other vegetables, encourage he try other vegetables. We all know a “rainbow” of veggies is ideal. But when day is done and that’s all he’ll eat, let him have them. I’m sure he’ll branch out one day and eat something else!
- Get them involved. Maybe they go food shopping with you and help pick out vegetables. Maybe they help you wash or cut them. Maybe they put them in a pretty bowl for you. If they feel involved in making decisions and helping with the preparation, they just might feel invested enough to try those veggies!
- Be realistic. Without throwing in the towel. I have thrown away enough little baggies of vegetables to know that my children (except for one) will not eat vegetables at school. I would like them to. I wish they would. But I am not going to keep sending them in, only to be thrown out. I also know that my children are not likely to eat steamed spinach at dinnertime. I don’t know why, I wish they would. But I do not force the issue. I offer it, I tell them it tastes like spring, I “ooh” and “ahh” while I eat it. And then I let them eat something else- usually the perpetual bowl of raw veggies we put out at dinner time.
One other tip I’m ashamed to put on the list is bribery. I’m sure nutritionists and psychologists would balk at this suggestion, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Make a little sweet treat contingent upon eating their veggies. And by a little sweet treat, I mean a simple dessert. Maybe some fruit (covered in whipped cream, who am I kidding?), a few chocolate chips, one piece of that Easter candy that’s laying around. Again, once you get over the hurdle, you can phase out the bribery. And be sneaky with your bribery. Don’t make it obvious. Don’t give them any crazy food hangups about it. And don’t tell anyone I said to bribe your kids to eat well 🙂
Most importantly, set a good example for them. Talk about eating healthy. Talk about fueling your body with good stuff. Don’t talk about calories or what’s fattening; focus on what is good for your body and what will make you feel good, perform better. When they see and hear you in this way they will become more aware of it. My non-vegetable eating 13-year-old started taking a salad to school as part of her lunch. All on her own. And she actually eats it. It took a while, but she’s seen us trying to make healthy choices and she started wanting to make healthier choices too.
Start Early, But It’s Never Too Late
The earlier you start the better. If you put healthy habits into place when your little one is too little to know any different, your nutrition path will be easier. But don’t feel like it’s too late to make a change now. Do your best. Start with this list and make baby steps.
“If you set a good example and teach them about nutrition, you’re laying the foundation for a sound nutritional future.” (This is what I say to myself often, after a deep breath with closed eyes, after they’ve referred to my dinner as “gross” or said, “Chicken again?” or refused a delicious medley of colorful vegetables I spent valuable time washing, chopping, seasoning, cooking, not to mention the food shopping, and do you know how much we spend on groceries….oh. Sorry. Got carried away). Anyway….You’re setting them up to be healthy adults. Which is all you can really do.
And if they’re still not eating any vegetables? Just keep doing what’s right. Keep trying, but don’t let it keep you up at night.
Do you have any tips or tricks to get kids to eat more vegetables?
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