How do you encourage young children to eat more fruit and vegetables when they are still learning to like veggies?
The reality is that while most of us know we should be eating veggies, it isn’t always easy to make that happen. Add to the mix a toddler or child who flat out refuses anything green, and carers and parents can feel like their hands are tied.
If you’re after a sure-fire way to feel like you aren’t stacking up, just stick should in a sentence.
I know they should be eating veggies, but they just put them to the side.
They should be eating fruit, but they just doesn’t seem to like it.
We’re going to show you a few changes that you may like to make that might be helpful for you and yours.
1. Simply provide
Rather than worrying over how much or how many veggies a child has or hasn’t eaten, instead focus on what you have offered. Despite what society teaches us, it is not your job to get your kid to eat veggies! Have you ever tried to force a child to eat a food they didn’t want to eat? It’s unpleasant for them and you, and NEVER gives the result you’re looking for.
It IS your job to decide what food to PROVIDE at each meal or snack time, and make sure you are including veggies along with other foods. It is your child’s job to decide whether or what food to eat from the food you have provided.
No need for going on and on about how delicious or great a food is, or how much you just know they’ll love it if they try it. Kids can spot your veggie agenda a mile away. Just serve the food. Job done. Tick!
2. Enjoy eating veggies yourself (or be open to learning to)
Some of you right now are saying “Cool, I’ve got this!” The rest of you are not feeling so confident about this one. We all have a food history, and not all of us have grown into adults who LOVE veggies. Maybe you didn’t have much opportunity to learn to like veggies when you were growing up, or they were always served in a way that you didn’t much care for.
What you DO need to know is that it is never too late to learn to like new foods. Learning to like new foods is a lifelong journey!
If you already like and regularly eat veggies, let your kids seeing you eating and enjoying them. If you are still learning to like veggies, tell your kids about it. You might be ready to make it a centre or family mission to buy a new veggie each week and explore it with no pressure for anyone to eat it (unless they want to). Exploring is just fine.
Think about what will make veggies taste good to you and your kids:
- You might prefer them crunchy and raw or soft, warm and cooked
- They could be more appealing served with a dressing, gravy or sauce
- You may enjoy them as an ingredient in another food, rather than on their own e.g. in a savoury muffin or a smoothie
3. Eat together, in all your perfectly imperfect ways
- Eat with your children as often as you can. If you NEVER eat together and you want to start, can you see even one or two opportunities each week where this is possible? How can you make this happen more often than it happens now? Could you shift the timing of meals?
- One parent (or carer) eating with the kids is better than none.
- Insist on sit-down meals and snacks. Sitting down and sharing food together is what counts – at a dining table, kitchen bench or a picnic blanket on the floor.
- Eat the same food. Include at least 1 or 2 foods that your child usually eats, and make sure there’s plenty of it.
- Include veggies regularly. Don’t just save them for the evening meal.
- Value all meals as worthy of sharing together, even take-away dinners. Add extra veggies to “round out” meals if you want to.
4. Offer a rainbow
Colourful veggies have different valuable nutrients. Consider colour and you will automatically be considering variety. Mix up the veggies you offer. Offering the same food day-after-day won’t make your kid learn to like it any faster. No-one wants to be served carrots every day.
5. Focus on the long-game
Learning to like food, especially veggies, takes time – a very a LONG time for some kids and some adults. Continue to offer veggies, even if they are rejected. Never give up. Never take a rejected food totally off the menu. There’s no magic “number of times” that you need to offer a food. Your child may learn to like a new food after 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 or 200 offerings. You never know when the magic day will be. TRUST that your child will learn to like new foods, including veggies, when they are ready.
It’s time to stop worrying about veggies. Instead, are you ready to make a mindset change to teaching your kids about veggies?
What is one small change, big gain that will help your child down the road to becoming a veggie-loving grown up?