Getting your child to eat their dinner can be a monumental task, but getting them to eat vegetables? Forget about it! How do you get your kids to eat in a way that benefits their wellbeing, without descending into screaming matches and tantrums?
Firstly, evaluate how wellness-centred your own diet is. It’s easy to care about your children’s health, but family wellness depends on everyone being healthy – which means you. Your children follow your example, so how do you expect your child to eat veggies if your plate is stacked sky-high with fatty foods and refined sugar? You need to eat vegetables if you expect your children to do the same, and everyone will benefit.
A time-honoured trick to get kids eating vegetables is to disguise them in their favourite foods. If spag bol is your child’s dish of choice, puree vegetables and stir them into the sauce. You can even chop up vegetables and hide them under layers of lasagne. This will help them get used to the taste of vegetables, so when you present them with the real, whole produce, they’ll be surprised to find that they actually like it.
However, though tricking your kids into eating what’s good for them is sometimes necessary, a better, long-term solution is to teach them about healthy eating, and get them excited about food. If your child is involved in the cooking, or even the growing, of fruit and vegetables, they will be proud of what they have made/grown and therefore more than likely eat it. Plus, the earlier you teach them to cook, the earlier you can put your feet up and let them take care of dinner!
Also, never underestimate the power of novelty utensils. A regular, old silver knife and fork? Boring! Cutlery adorned with Spongebob Squarepants or Peppa Pig? Pass the carrots! Ok, perhaps the effects of novelty cutlery aren’t quite that immediate, but you get the point. Having utensils, cups and plates with your children’s favourite characters on will help them to see that mealtime is a fun time, and they’ll want to eat their food more. You could even try going to a pottery shop together as a fun, family say out, and making and painting your own plates and cups.