Half of the kids’ plate each mealtime should be filled with vegetables and fruits. Working as a nanny, I had to come up with some special ways to get my kids eat their veggies. Dinnertime should be pleasant and not a battle. I hope these ideas will stir some interest:
- Be a role model and make the same meal for everyone. If kids see you eating a lot of vegetables, they most likely will try them too. That means, you have to eat a healthy meal, but there is no need to prepare a separate meal for your child. Show your child that you really love your veggies and make them interested. Always add a favorite food on the side.
- Make your kid’s plate more fun. Create faces with vegetables and let children play with their food. For example: make a “hedgehog” by sticking different vegetables into the hummus dip, an octopus or make pizza faces. Make a mashed potato snowman. Use corn for eyes, peas for buttons, and carrot for nose and string bean for mouth. You can easily cut a toast into different shapes with cookie cutters.
- Make dipping sauces. Kids love to dip their food in sauces such as honey mustard or ketchup. You can make your own too. For instance, mix Greek yogurt with a little bit of ranch; prepare Tzatziki sauce, mix hummus with mashed avocado.
- Be sneaky and hide vegetables in your child’s favorite food. Roasting vegetables is a great way to make them sweet and soft and appealing to children who don’t like raw vegetables. Blend vegetables and then add them to pasta sauces or pizza sauces. Grate zucchini and carrots or mash cooked sweet potatoes and add them to pancakes batter.
- Involve your kids in dinner preparations. Let them cut some of the vegetables with safety knives. You will see them soon nibbling on their veggies. Prepare meals from children cooking books. Make “power smoothies” mixing veggies with fruits. My kids tend to eat better every time I allow them to help me cook.
- Shop with your kids. Let them pick their vegetables, smell them and ask what they would like to eat for dinner. Give them 2-3 choices to pick from. Kids love to see that their opinion counts.
- Make it a rule to always try a new food. You must smell, take a bite, swallow it and if you don’t like, then you don’t have to eat it. Never give up, continue to introduce new foods because you may be amazed.
- Promise an award. Offer them dessert or promise a movie picnic if they eat some of their veggies.