Despite our son’s rather challenging food allergies, my wife and I have had it easy as parents. In the four-plus years since our daughter’s birth, we’ve been to the emergency room just once. There have been no scary choking moments, no broken bones, no serious bouts with the flu.
Both our kids sleep through the night and take naps (they’ve even been known to request them). And they eat their veggies—or at least they did until recently. Four-year-old Elise, who would eat peas, corn, green beans, and carrots as a toddler, began putting up resistance around age 3. She now eats only green beans and refuses to try anything new.
And 21-month-old Graeme has recently entered the veggie Olympics, turning carrot slices into discuses and peas into shot puts. (Thank God for the new dog.)
I’ve read lots of advice recently on how to get kids to eat veggies. Of course, there are entire books written on the subject, and controversies over books—most famously, Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food.
With Elise, we tried some of those tricks and sneaked green, healthy things into food she’s willing to eat—zucchini into muffins, squash into spaghetti sauce. We even convinced her that vegetarian corn dogs have real meat.
Not everyone’s into the deception thing. Blogger Tanya Steel, author of the new book Real Food for Healthy Kids, argues against hiding veggies. She recently offered up suggestions for getting picky kids to eat their greens.
• Serve kids veggies first; hungry kids are more likely to eat them
• Use examples, like the Olympics, to reinforce good eating habits
• Be a role model and eat your own veggies
(Speed-food maven Rachael Ray also serves up some tips in the September issue of Health magazine.)
The problem is, we’ve tried all these suggestions with little success. Graeme’s too young to understand the correlation of Olympic dreams and a diet rich in green beans. Elise is outsmarting us with the argument that she doesn’t want to be an Olympian.
I’m pretty frustrated, and that’s where you come in. How do you get your kids to eat their veggies? I’d like to hear. Post your suggestions in the comments field below, and I’ll share Graeme and Elise’s favorite solutions in a few weeks.
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Comments (5)
1) Find a healthy snack they like such as grapes, apple slices with peanut butter, or fruity yogurt, put it on the table WITH dinner, and then require that they eat a small serving of some vegetable before they get the treat. Its worked for us, and it can get TWO servings of fruits and vegetables into the kids for the trauma of one.
2) Grated Parmesan or shredded cheese. A little bit makes everything an easier sell.
3) Make it fun. I’ve invented dishes like sticks-and-stones and “what a mess!” that the girls love, and I think its 90% the name.
For sticks-and-stones, you need sticks (carrot sticks,brocolli, cauliflower, maybe a FEW fish sticks) and stones (cherry tomatoes, chicken nuggets). Serve on a big platter, with a few dipping cups with salad dressing on the side. NO SILVERWARE!
For “what a mess!”, make mac and cheese, then mix in some browned ground beef, and add diced tomatos or peas or pinto beans or whatever-the-hell-else until its about half vegetable. At this point, you realize why its called “what a mess!”. Its kinda gross, but tasty, and you ARE catering to the same crowd that eats Gummi worms.
We established the three bite rule and adults and children both participate. We have three bites of one food and then move on to something else on the plate. That way we don’t fill up on the macaroni and cheese before we are too full for the green beans and fruit!
I am so frustrated. My 16-year-old will eat hardly any vegetables, including corn. I can only give him 3 trees of broccoli, and only in the last month has he started eating romaine lettuce with just parmesan cheese and croutons. No sauces, including spaghetti sauce. He turns up his nose at anything new. No soups at all. Help!
my 11 yr. 50 pounds over wieght is the pickiest eater all mash potato and corn like his dad .so i had my son make a list of his own evry thing he liked from food to drinks..including candy..yes candy why to get an idea on the flavors he likes..well i found out he likes lemon…so i made lemon speggetti butter, lemon juice, lemon and pepper seasining, and masded galic..he loved it..if you can get your chid to make the foods i like list. you can find healthy recipes online or in a childrens cook book and use the foods on the list or let them invent one of thier own.. you might just might have the next great chef…and its fun for them..
We have our kids choose a meal of their own each week to help cook. The only rule is that it has to include a vegetable, whether it be a side of corn, or pasta sauce or salad. The next thing we did was remove the wonder from dessert by giving 1 cookie with each dinner. We give each kid a “doable” amount of the food, especially if its something new. If they eat everything on their plate, then they can more of anything that was offered, even cookies. Since the new plan has been in effect – about a year – both children haven’t complained about what we are eating, have grown to appreciate the effort it takes to make a meal, have grown to “like” at least some veggies and even choose an extra helping of whatever it is over cookies sometimes. It keeps us parents sane, gives us a helping hand in the kitchen, and is one less meal we have to plan. It keeps supper creative and allows us to spend one on one time with each kid too.