No matter which part of the world you are from, as parents you might have similar stories to tell about your kids and their hate towards vegetables. It is just not possible to get most kids to eat vegetables that easily.
Worry no more! Next time, just try one or more of the following tricks to get your kid eat veggies:
1. Hide and package methods
Hiding and packaging vegetables in other food items or even change their appearance to make it look unlike veggies is good ways to get kids eat them. Please note that, the success rate of these tips vary with the kids age group.
- Vegetable patties or cutlets are tasty, shallow fried form of vegetables that most kids eat
- You can also make vegetable dumplings or batter fried vegetables that kids love to eat
- Make fresh juice out of vegetables and mix with their favorite fruit juices and give them
- Veg soups and purees are another way to supply vegetables to them especially when mixed with tastier ingredients like chicken stock
- Yet another option is to use veggies as pizza toppings and cover the topping with a layer of melted mozzarella cheese on top to completely cover the vegetables
- Offering kids their favorite dips can make some kids eat their veggies as well
2. Rewarding methods
This is yet another way of getting your child to eat vegetables. Small rewards are a good way to improve their eating habits of things that they hate the most.
- If kids are offered a small gift (e.g. a sticker or tattoo) at the end of each veg meal session, they will be happy to finish the veggies off in a jiffy
- Slightly bigger kids can be offered extended play time or even bigger kids some kind of weekly allowance for their improved eating habits
- An offer such as their favorite dessert following a vegetable course will make kids more interested in quickly finishing off the veggies
3. Develop interest in them
This is the most sustainable approach of all and the following are some of the ways using which you can develop interest in kids towards vegetables.
- For small kids, you may name the vegetables after their favorite idols and develop interest in the same
- Have a ‘Learn a vegetable a day’ plan for the child, purchase that vegetable on that particular day during grocery (with them), cook the same for a meal or two. Kids will definitely develop interest in what they learn
- Cite examples of characters (e.g. Pop Eye to make them eat spinach) and even invent imaginary characters on your own
- Link eating vegetables as a pride factor via some fake stories or ‘who eats more’ kind of games on the dinner table
- Develop gardening interest in kids and even dedicate a small area in the garden for them to grow their stuff. Let them learn more about each vegetable and their importance during this process
- As a parent, even if you hate all-veg-meal days, never discuss that as something boring or not-so-nice-to-have. Treat such days like a normal day
One or more of these tips and tricks will definitely work for your child’s specific case to make him or her like veggies more. Good luck in your parenting endeavors!
