6 Ways to Encourage Your Kids to Eat Vegetables

How many of you remember your parents requiring that you sit at the dinner table until you eat your vegetables. “Eat your peas, then you can have dessert.” And yes, dessert in my house as a child was Twinkies, Hostess cupcakes or Swiss Miss Pudding cups.  I’m pretty sure the three pieces of corn I choked down to win my prize didn’t do a whole lot for my health in the short term. However, since we now live in the land of the organic variety, most people are trying to be smarter about the food choices we make for our family. Apparently our parents must have known something, there is one value that continues to transcend time, we have always realized how important it was to provide fruits and vegetables.

Now fast forward several years, I work with children who have feeding challenges, usually because they either don’t have the ability to control the food in their mouth for chewing, or that they have certain diagnoses like Autism where children might be very rigid and picky regarding the foods they will eat. And there are also the toddlers demonstrating their new found independence who can push food away, clench their mouths, or throw the food at you or off the side of the tray, like it’s their job. I meet parents everyday that wish their children were not so picky with foods because their children are losing weight and improving their child’s eating is seriously a matter of life and death.

June 17th is National Eat Your Vegetable Day. Here are some of the strategies I use everyday with parents that might just be able to help the children in your family have more fun eating more healthy. If you have concerns about your child’s feeding, please consult their doctor. Some of these strategies are for older school aged children, so always provide foods that are at your child’s skill level.

-Be mindful of the portion sizes you provide your child. At a recent conference I went to with Susan Roberts, MDiv, OTR/L, she reminded us that a child’s portion size is what they can hold in their hand. Showing your child a huge pile of peas might look to them like they need to climb a mountain and they might feel defeated before they even start.

-If you encourage them eat a food first, then they can have dessert or be done with dinner, keep your promises. Start with a goal they can accomplish and encourage them to eat one pea before they can get up from the table. If they earn your trust, you can raise the bar slowly over time. If you break the rules by saying, “just one more bite every time,” why would they try to please you?

-Sit with your children during meals. If they don’t see you eating it, why should they? We should positively model good behavior to our children.

-Involve your children in the meal preparations. I’ve recently been introduced to a company called Growums. They have developed 6 different seed growing kits, complete to help children make pizza, stir fry, ratatouille, tacos, herbs and salads. Each container has all the seeds and herbs needed for your child’s favorite dish. Using the included coco pellets, you place a few seeds in the pellets, water them and watch the seeds grow. Transfer them to the backyard garden or a planting container. Harvest the food and work together as a family to make your meal from scratch. It only took 2 days for my seeds to begin to grow. Allowing your child to watch the process from start to finish and feeling a sense of accomplishment could help.

-Don’t get into the habit of hiding vegetables in mashed potatoes or other textures so that they are in plain sight. If you can puree them and add them to a tomato sauce so they can go undetectable, I think that’s a better route.  Hiding can lead to mistrust again, and let’s face it, they pretty much find it every time.

– Use dips. Ranch dressing, guacamole, yogurt, salad dressing, salsa, hummus, spinach/artichoke dip. Even if they don’t like to eat vegetables cut carrots, celery, peppers, and cucumbers into strips. They can use their vegetable almost like a utensil for dipping, at some point you might just find them taking a bite.

Growums provided a Taco Garden Kit free to facilitate a review. The opinions are my own. Please consult your child’s doctor if you have concerns about their feeding abilities.