Getting Kids to Eat Their Vegetables

How can I get my kids to eat their veggies?

This is a seemingly simple question, yet one that is often uttered by exasperated parents doing their best to try to form healthy eating habits in their children. Certain parenting styles and practices tend to be more effective than others in developing kids' tolerance and liking of a variety of fruits and vegetables. Here are some tips on how parents can be more victorious with veggies.  

Ellyn Satter, an internationally recognized expert on healthy feeding and eating, developed the following division of responsibility theory:

Parents should be in charge of what, when, and where their children eat while the children are responsible for how much and whether to eat what is offered. 

When kids are very young, practically all foods are new to them. Kids may show an immediate liking to particularly tasty foods (such as sweet and high fat foods). On the other hand, it my take up to 20 times for a child to learn to like a certain vegetable or unfamiliar food. Try to offer vegetables in a neutral manner; avoid exclaiming over how yummy the eggplant is or bribing her to take a bite of her broccoli as these might turn her off from trying something new. 

If your child turns down a vegetable at dinner, don’t take that to mean she doesn’t like it; she is in the process of learning to like it. This process may involve helping you choose a vegetable at the store, helping you prepare it, watching you eat it, eventually tasting it and spitting it out before she will even eat it for the first time. This is not a one-day process, so be patient and don’t give up! 

Even if your child likes a food she may not eat it every time it’s offered; children are much better than adults at knowing how much they need to eat, so avoid the “clean your plate” method. Try offering vegetables cooked in a variety of ways in order to introduce your child to all of the possible textures and flavors; raw, cut-up vegetables are often the most accepted form for kids.

Family meals and set snack times are important to instilling healthy eating behaviors in kids. Try not to allow your kids to graze on snacks and beverages (except water) throughout the day; have sit-down snack times during the day, but not in front of the TV! Let them work up a healthy appetite for dinner and maybe they will be more willing to eat those veggies.

A few final suggestions: Avoid hiding vegetables to trick kids into eating them (they will wonder why these foods need to be hidden). Also, reduce but do not completely restrict the “junk foods” that you offer at home (again, your smart children will be intrigued by these mysteriously “bad” foods). Finally, it’s a great time of year to start a garden! What better way to get your kids interested in vegetables than planting them and watching them grow in your own backyard. 

If you have a food or diet question for Kelley, email her.