What’s even more important than getting your kids to eat vegetables? Getting your kids to eat and ENJOY vegetables!
These are proven to be the best ways to increase the chances that your children will eat and ENJOY vegetables. Also, a very popular trick will be successful in getting your kids to eat vegetables, but it will make it even less likely that they will enjoy vegetables in the long run.
#4 – Introduce a Wide Variety of Vegetables 6 to 12 Months
There is a big window of opportunity between 6 and 12 months of age when your child will want to try new foods and become more accepting of them. Later, naturally, he will become more skeptical of any “new” food, even if she has seen and eaten it before. Introducing your child to as wide a variety of vegetables and textures as possible before he reaches this stage can maximize the amount of food your child will accept.
#3 – Present Vegetables Neutrally
Don’t have a preconceived idea about what your child will and won’t enjoy. If you have a defeatist “I know Billy will hate broccoli” attitude, your child will pick up on the negativity. The same is true if you make a big deal out of the fact that he likes something like “Wow, you like Brussels sprouts.” Kids are smart, they’ll pick up the underlying message that Brussels sprouts are something NOT to like, and your child is likely to announce that he doesn’t like them the next time he serves them.
#2 – Repetition, repetition, repetition
Many children go through a stage where they are skeptical of anything new. They will announce that they “hate” something before they’ve even tried it. This is a normal stage of your child’s development. Just like babies suddenly “get weird” with people. Estimates of the average number of exposures to a new food before children accept it range from 5 to 30. If spinach is something you eat regularly at home, keep eating it regularly. The underlying message to your child is that people in your house eat spinach. Eventually, your child will try it, and he may or may not like it. He tries different recipes and preparations, cooked spinach as a side dish, spinach salad, sauteed spinach, any way he likes to eat it.
#1 – Eat Vegetables Yourself
Actions speak louder than words and the little ones watch every move we make. The most successful way to make sure your kids don’t eat vegetables is to not eat vegetables yourself. Therefore, be a role model for those who love vegetables. And make all the important adults in your child’s life veggie-loving role models.
1 trick you should NOT use
DO NOT sneak/hide vegetables! This is a popular trick. It’s tempting to do this out of concern that your child isn’t eating enough vegetables. While you’ll win the battle to eat vegetables in the short term, you’ll lose the long-term war to get your kids to eat and ENJOY vegetables. Children are smart and they will find out sooner or later. They will learn that vegetables (and food in general) are something to be suspicious of. It will erode their trust in the food and in you. They will also learn that vegetables are a horrible thing to hide. When you’re not around to hide them, they’ll be less likely to pick vegetables. Now, this doesn’t mean you can’t add pureed vegetables to soups, pasta sauces, baking, etc. If you like the recipe, use it. It is the intention that matters. Ask yourself: are you hiding the vegetable or are you adding it because you enjoy the taste?