Five Easy Ways to Get Your Kids to Eat Their Veggies

As parents, we all try to make good decisions for our children. One decision is to help your kids stay healthy by eating plenty of vegetables. No matter how hard you try, you may have some resistance to veggies from your kids. So what can you do? Here are five easy ways to get your kids to eat their veggies:

Be Sneaky

In order to get your kids to eat some veggies, you need to be sneaky. Look for fun ways to add them to their meals. Chop up some carrots and add them to your kid’s macaroni and cheese. Get some zucchinis and add them to sauces like dipping sauce or spaghetti sauce. Look for meals to add vegetables into. Don’t just serve your kids rice; serve up rice with some veggies included. If the rice has a good flavor, your kids won’t even notice they are eating veggies. Try serving up some squash instead of mashed potatoes. It’s healthier and more colorful. Just tell your kids that you added food coloring to the potatoes and they will gobble them up.

Be Creative

Kids like to eat foods when they look unique and fun. Be creative with the way you present the foods to the kids. Use cookie cutters to make fun shapes with some of the veggies. How about placing the veggies on your kids plates in the shape of Mickey Mouse?

Get some veggies that are fun to eat like corn on the cob. You can have an eating contest to see who can eat all the corn off the cob in the shortest amount of time. It’s a simple way to add a little excitement to the dinner table and it’s an easy way to get your kids to eat their veggies.

Ask for Help

Take your kids to the grocery store with you and have them help you pick out veggies. Once you buy them, make sure your kids help out with the preparation of veggies. You need to make the decision making process easy for the kids by saying things like” would you like broccoli or asparagus for dinner?” When they only have 2 choices, it will be easier for them to decide between which vegetable they are willing to eat versus saying “no” to all the vegetables you point out in the store. If you decide to shape the veggies with cookie cutters, have your kids help you. This is a fun way to help them enjoy eating the foods because they will enjoy making them.

Bye, Bye Junk Food

A great way to help your kids eat their veggies is to get rid of all the junk food in the home. When then junk food is gone, your kids will not have another alternative than to eat the veggies. Kids like to have different kinds on snacks and veggies can easily fill in those cravings. Get some peanut butter, cheese, and ranch dressing to use as dipping sauce for the different types of veggies. Celery, Broccoli, and carrots all go great with dipping sauces and it’s a fun way to make snack time tasty and interesting.

Start Young

In order to teach your kids to like their veggies, you need to start young. It’s easier to get them to eat the right types of foods when they are little as they are completely dependant on you and they are unable to actually voice their opinion about the food. However, if you start young, eating veggies will become a habit and kids won’t fuss about them as much as they will if they are given an option as to eat veggies or potato chips.