How many times have you heard these sentences?
"I hate broccoli! Why do I have to eat vegetables?"
"Ugh, this stuff stinks, can I have some more meat instead?"
"I don't want this, I am strong and healthy enough. I want sweets!"
These are the help cries and clever sayings of children that wish they lived in a veggie free world where lollipops, cotton candy and gummy bears are the healthiest of food groups.
Instead of lecturing your children each time about the importance of eating healthy and consuming their daily or weekly vegetables, try another approach to help them realise which veggies they actually like and how you can make them more delicious with these helpful tips:
Little cook, big cook
Get your children more involved in the kitchen and Google recipes together that seems nice to them. Let them pick the flavouring and spices if you are making baked or roasted veggies and take them with you to the supermarket to pick out their own veggies. Children are prone to be more excited about things they helped to make.
Get your hands dirty
With your next family dinner night, make a suggestion to host a make-it-yourself pizza, taco or salad night where there is a variety of choices for toppings and add-on's. Then, encourage them to try something different and to pick out one or two types of veggies to replace or add to their usual favourite.
My mom always said, you won't know if you like it before you tried it. Who knows? It might be their new favourite.
Saucy much?
Sometimes a dip or sauce can make a huge difference if you add it to the veggies, giving your children the opportunity to 'mask' the taste of raw veggies. Keep in mind that too many sauces can also defeat the purpose of the health factor so make it like a reward, for example, for every two times they eat plain veggies they can choose the type of sauce or dip they want with the next meal.
That's how I started eating cauliflower and spinach and I absolutely love it now!
Halfsies
If all else has failed and you are really struggling to get your child to eat all of their veggies, start by giving them half of what they used to force down. Sometimes kids feel intimidated by the amount of food that is in front of them. If they get hungry later, always keep some cut up carrots, cucumber, broccoli or any veggies that they like to give them as a snack. It's going to be a battle sometimes but it will get better!
Keeping it up
Be the good example that you are trying to set for your children by making it seem that you enjoy your veggies more than anything. Make a fuss about how amazing the veggies taste and ask them if they'd tried it? Making yummy noises won't always work but make it work!
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