You know fruits and vegetables are necessary for healthy growth and development, especially for children, but your little guy or gal simply fights every piece of real fool put in front of their face? Here is a list of 10 tips to help overcome picky eaters and their aversion to real food!
1) Eat what you want them to eat!
Children really will do what they see you doing. If you never eat anything but chips and chocolate your children will follow suit. If they see you eating your broccoli, apples and salad, they will be more willing to eat it too!
2) Make kids the deciding factor!
Ask your children which veggie they would like with dinner tonight. Offer two or three choices and let them choose. If they feel in control of their foods they're more willing to eat them.
3) Make your kids assistant chef!
Again, if children are able to be involved in their food prep they'll be more willing to eat them. You can have your child help by seasoning the veggies if they're young or peeling, slicing, chopping them if they're older!
4) Implement the bite rule!
Your child eats all of their chicken nuggets and wants more but refuses their green beans. You can implement the bite rule which means you set a number of bites your child must take of their veggies before they get more of anything else! If you choose three bites your child must take three bites of their veggies before they get anything else. They'll either eat their three bites or they'll be done with dinner. Stick to this rule once you implement it or they will always throw fits to avoid eat the number of required bites.
5) 3 chances to like it or leave it!
It takes three times of eating something before you develop a taste for it. In other words, you need to eat green beans three different times to begin to like them, if you don't like them in the beginning. Remind your children of this when encouraging them to try new vegetables.
6) Hidden veggies are better than no veggies!
I prefer my children to eat their vegetables as they are so they get used to eating them but if your little tyke simply won't eat them you can always hide them. Cauliflower works great as a mashed potato substitute and carrots work well in brownies or cakes. There are plenty of cook books on the market that show you how to hide veggies in foods your kids already eat like Mac 'n' cheese, chicken nuggets and cookies. Hiding veggies is better than no veggies!
7) Get saucy!
Kids love to dip anything into a sauce! You can offer ketchup, dressings, or other sauces to encourage children to eat more veggies. Home made dips are easy, cheap and healthy alternative to the typical ranch dressing!
8) Prepare ahead of time!
Wash, slice and divide fruits and veggies ahead of time so they are more enticing to cildren and you! If you see a Baggie of fresh carrot sticks already peeled and ready to munch you'll be more likely to grab them than a bag of chips.
9) Change it up!
You can be creative with how you prepare vegetables each time you offer them. Raw, blanched, roasted, grilled, purred, etc. Change up the cooking method to see which way your children prefer!
10) Dress them up.
Lastly, you can make the vegetables look more fun by making faces or pictures with vegetables. Use tomatoes for eyes, pepper slices for ears, carrots for noses, etc. Your children will love getting to play with and eat their fancy veggies!
I hope this helps inspire you to think outside the box when it comes to getting your children to eat the veggies!
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