I received this infographic recently and it got me to thinking… what do you use in your own home to help your children get along with the evil healthy stuff aka ‘veggies?’
I guess I’m a little old school because when it comes to fruit and veggies, there are no options. It’s eat them, period. Yeah, I’m a little inflexible but I have put time into helping them eat them without being pressured under pain of death (otherwise known as being cut off from text messaging or video games). One of the best techniques I’ve found is taking my kids with me on an excursion to the Farmer’s Market! They love it there and the vendors love them there as well. I haven’t met a vendor yet who didn’t offer, unsolicited, a free sample to a curious kid and there’s something about the children being able to explore their fruits and vegetables which connects them with the purchasing decision so that when we get home they actually eat the fruit and veggies without my chastisement. The first time I witnessed this I was hooked on the Farmer’s Market outings and we’ve been going ever since. This, of course, works out better with the fruits than the veggies because most fruit tends to have some level of sweetness which makes their consumption palatable to my children. Veggies on the other hand, other than sweet white corn on the grill, have been another deal. That was, until they discovered Ranch. Sometimes I think I could convince them to eat a salamander if they were allowed to douse it with ranch dressing, but I digress.
So, tell me, how have you been able to get your children to eat veggies? Are they natural born veggie lovers or have you had to experiment with various dips to get the healthy stuff in their tummies?
I have been compensated to participate in the Hidden Valley Ranch “Love Your Veggies” parent panel and will be posting content pertaining to getting your family (and especially those kids) to eat their veggies. It’s for a great cause and it’s all about healthy habits but in the interest of transparency and full-disclosure, these posts will always be clearly labeled.