Simple Ways to Make Your Kids LOVE Vegetables
Sometimes it’s painful trying to get kids to eat their vegetables. Here are five things to shift your mindset and invite imagination into the process.
- Every day is different. One day, my friend’s kid says he LOVES broccoli and he happily devours a plateful. The next day, he refuses to eat broccoli and insists he doesn’t like it. Nutrition is not made in one day…tomorrow is a new day.
- Every year is different. Out of nowhere, I started to love the taste of fennel after trying it for years and hating it. Keep introducing the same vegetables to kids: studies say we have to try something seven times to know if we like it or not. And we may change our mind later in life.
- Every vegetable is different. What if there is some spinach on the plate and your child won’t eat it? I believe it’s potentially dangerous to tell your child in that moment, “Eat your vegetables: they are healthy.” What happens when the child responds that she doesn’t like vegetables? Now it’s about not liking ALL vegetables instead of not liking this particular recipe of spinach in this particular moment.
- Every kid is different. I used to beg my mom for Brussels sprouts, but I’m told this is not the norm. If your first child doesn’t like Brussels sprouts, it doesn’t mean your second child won’t. Keep trying.
- Finally, meal time is NOT the only time to talk vegetables. Share stories to keep vegetables at the forefront of kid’s imagination. Vegetables don’t have to be boring.
That’s why my friend Stacey Murphy is giving away free copies of her children’s ebook My Dinosaur Ate My Broccoli (ages 6-8). It’s a fantastical tale about Nya and her best friend Bronty who grow strong and achieve their dreams by eating lots of vegetables.
But the free copy is only available for a short time, now until Sunday, June 19. So go grab your copy now.
And if you’re interested in print copies, check out her Kickstarter to raise money for paperback production plus the next two stories in the series My Dinosaur Sat on My Shitake and My Dinosaur Farted in My Greenhouse.
Invite some imagination into meal time.
Wow, this is very good blog. For me as a mother, I always tell my kids to eat vegetables. I do customize vegetable foods, I even read books with them about vegetables.
About | UrbanFarmU
We should encourage our kids to love vegetables because it is very helpful to their health. If you have problems in making them do it, you should follow these tips. They will surely help a lot.