My children love fruits and vegetables; I do not have to trick them into eating their greens, coax them, or make threats. They are more than willing to gobble these healthy goodies right up. I have been told that I am lucky my children love vegetables and fruit, but I wouldn’t call it luck – it happened by design. I have been encouraging good food choices since my oldest was very young. I have used many strategies and I wanted to share five ways to get your kids excited about produce.
- Let your child pick one fruit or vegetable from the store each week. I did this with my children for a very long time. Being able to choose what to buy made them more likely to eat it. Most weeks they picked something they had never tried before and we pretty much ran out of new produce to try. My son was super excited when he found this brussel sprout stalk at Trader Joe’s.
- Tie what is on their plate into what is in their stories. For example, The Very Hungry Caterpillar eats a lot of produce. Many children’s stories and movies have characters who eat fruits or vegetables in the story. Playfully remind your child of this.
- Role play with your food. Younger children may enjoy pretending food is something other than what it is. For example, we used to call broccoli “little trees” and pretend we were long neck dinosaurs gobbling them up. This never failed in our home.
- Make green smoothies. My children love making suggestions as to what to include in our green smoothies. Sometimes they recommend things I would never think to add. But with the right ingredients, green smoothies can be delicious and fun.
- Grow your own produce. Children are more likely to eat produce willingly and joyfully when they have a hand in the growing process. Not only is it educational and fun, it is also very healthy.
I hope at least one of those ideas is helpful to you. Remember to encourage your children to eat a colorful diet (and no, I do not mean Skittles and Fruit Loops ).
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