About a month ago, I mentioned that I was excited to be a Hidden Valley “Love Your Veggies” Parent Panel member. As part of this compensated program, I’ll be sharing some posts both here and on their LoveYourVeggies blog, For my first “assignment”, I was asked to share five tips or personal experiences regarding getting my kids to eat (and love) their veggies. (Perhaps they’re assuming that I have been able to get my kids to both eat and love their vegetables!) Well, they would be halfway right in that assumption. Michael has eaten and loved his vegetables practically since birth. Basically, he eats (almost) anything that I feed him. The challenge with him is to get him to stop eating. He’s only seven and he can already eat many adults under the table. I shudder at the thought of our food bills when he becomes a teenager. Oh, well…
On the other end of the food spectrum is my four year old son Sean. Naturally, he likes fruit, sandwiches and the occasional vegetable. He does not like to eat a lot at all though…including vegetables. As he has told us at times in regards to being asked to eat what is on his plate, “I’ll eat it, but I won’t like it.” Do you know what? That is totally fine with me. I do a lot of things that I don’t like to do simply because they are good for me. Such is life. We try to keep the food conversation light at our home for the most part. The family joke is that we wish that we could merge Michael and Sean’s eating habits. Then, they would be just right – eating just enough and not too much. Alas, that is not going to happen, so we work with what we have!
So…have I been able to get my kids to eat their vegetables? Yes. Have I been able to get them to love eating their vegetables? Kind of. Sort of. Maybe. Okay…no. One came into the world loving them and the other one tolerates eating them. What I have been able to do though is to make eating vegetables more enjoyable for my little one. As Sean says, “I used to be a picky eater, but I’m not anymore.” He is mistaken. While he’s definitely not as picky, he is still very particular. That is fine with me though, because I’m pretty particular myself. In any event, below are five tips that help kids like Sean love their veggies more:
- Variety is the spice of life. Have your kids try as many different types of vegetables as possible. Our family has our “weekly” vegetables – ones that everyone in the family enjoys. They include onions, garlic, red and green peppers and string beans. In addition, I try to include a new or different seasonal vegetable each week in a variety of ways. Some are hits like the zucchini that I served five different ways. Others are misses…alas; Michael and I are still the only ones who really like cabbage. (What is wrong with those other two? Cabbage is so delicious!)
- In that same variety theme, try to present the same vegetable in a variety of different ways. You never know what your kids will like. Take Michael and broccoli as an example. Like I mentioned, Michael likes most vegetables…even more types than I do (i.e. squash). In the past, he never really cared for broccoli which happens to be one of my favorite vegetables. To my pleasant surprise, one day while we were at a lunchbox making class, he was just eating and enjoying broccoli like it was his favorite food in the world. When I asked him what the difference was that day,” he explained, “Well, I never had it with egg salad before.” Note to self: If all else fails (in regards to getting Michael to love a vegetable), try egg salad! Not really…rather I learned to keep trying a wide variety of food combinations. You never know what will work.
- Make veggies the only option…when the kids especially want something to eat. Initially, I was going to write when they are “hungry”, but my kids have never truly been hungry a day in their lives. However, there are certain times of each day – like right after school – when my kids really want something to snack on. Usually, I give them a few healthy options like fruit, vegetables or pretzels. However, if one of them didn’t eat their vegetables the night before, veggies can become their only option! (My kids love to dunk their food into various dips and sauces, so Ranch dressing is a great option to serve along with the vegetables.) The truth is that when there aren’t any other options on the table, they take what they can get without too much of a fuss.
- Don’t forget that each child is an individual. As such, pick your food battles accordingly. My food expectations vary based on what I know that each of my sons is capable of handling. I don’t expect Sean to eat as much of every vegetable as Michael does, but I do expect him to at least taste each vegetable. We started off with the “one bite” rule, but now we are up to a (try at least) “three bites” rule. I also realized that Sean has some food texture issues and certain slimier textured vegetables will just make him sick. So, instead of forcing the issue, I either cook the vegetables in a different way or simply present other veggie options. I don’t believe in forcing kids to eat one specific thing just to prove a point. Life is too short! Last of all, I use my kids’ individual strengths to help me accomplish our family food goals. For instance, Sean loves to be my “super helper”, so I have him cook with me as much as possible. Even if it’s just sprinkling salt and pepper on the dish or helping by putting something in the crock pot. It gives him such a sense of satisfaction and he (without fail) eats more of whatever he helps to prepare.
- Relax. As long as my kids are getting their necessary nutrients over the course of each day, I try not to make food a stressful point of our daily life. I truly believe in exposure not force. I like to consistently expose Michael and Sean to a wide variety of food items and encourage them to at least try everything once. That’s kind of my parenting “style” overall though – exposure not force. Rather than getting all obsessive and extreme about nutrition I think / hope / wish (whatever you want to call it) that a combination of exposure and gentle influence will work for Sean in regards to food. He constantly says that he wants to be like his Mom, Dad and big brother. Well, we all like to eat a variety of foods including veggies, so I’m confident that Sean’s latent “foodie” gene will kick in one day.
Do your kiddies love to eat their veggies? Do you have any tips that have helped to get them to eat more vegetables?