How to Get Your Kids to Eat More Vegetables

We all know kids should eat their vegetables, but many times, this is easier said than done. Here are a few tips from a vegetable-loving mom who has been there, done that!

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• fresh, frozen, or canned vegetables
• imagination

1. Set a good example. Your kids will follow your lead. They will eat what they see you eating. Be a role model and eat your own vegetables!
2. Start young. Infants can eat boiled, mashed, and pureed vegetables such as sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, and green beans. Start feeding vegetables to your babies as soon as they begin solid foods. They will get used to the taste and vegetables won't be foreign to them.
3. Make it fun. Toddlers and school age kids enjoy fun foods. Make faces or shapes on their plates with vegetables - a face with broccoli hair, cherry tomato eyes, and a carrot mouth. Make it fun for them to eat the face.
4. Use creative dipping sauces. Kids love to dip. Offer dips such as ranch dressing, ginger soy sauce, honey mustard, barbeque sauce. Offer new dips and sauces to keep them interested. We use little plastic cups (like from pudding) for dipping and each child can pick 2 or 3 dips at each meal.
5. Make soup. It is easy to load up the vegetables in home made soup. Let your kids help make it with you. Give them crackers to dip in the soup when eating it.
6. Make pizza. Add vegetables such as peppers, shredded carrots, broccoli, onions, sundried tomatoes, olives, etc. Let your kids help decorate the pizza, or better yet, make small individual sized pizzas and each child can prepare his own.
7. Let your kids help choose vegetables at the grocery store. Instead of saying, "Do you want carrots?" Ask them, "Which should we get, carrots or celery?" Let them be involved in the shopping.
8. Let kids choose the vegetable when preparing a meal. If you have more than one child, let them take turns. Ask them, "Which should we have tonight, green beans or broccoli?" Let them be involved instead of forcing them to eat what you choose.
9. Hide it. If all else fails, puree cooked vegetables and add them to sauces. Layer vegetables in lasagna and casseroles.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep trying. Kids tastes change and one day they will surprise you and try something they have never tried before.