An everyday struggle that parents face with kids is to get them to eat their veggies. Parents are on the hunt for new ways to get kids to eat vegetables. The kids always make a face and say no for eating veggies. If you put the vegetables in their dish, they very conveniently separate it from the dish and leave it aside. The vegetables are however necessary for them to eat. The green vegetables will be beneficial to their eyesight, as well as the development of their brain.
Children are young, and they will not shy away from screaming and shouting at you for not eating vegetables. But you cannot go to war with your child every day for the same thing. Hence, you need to come with innovative ways to get children to eat their vegetables. When someone asks you how to get kids to eat vegetables, you will have ideas such as making noises of the plane, ask them with love, negotiate, etc.
But if you have run out of ideas and want more ideas to get the children to eat vegetables, then you can read on, as I have explained the same.
Ideas to get children to eat vegetables:
1. Mix into a favorite meal
You can add the veggies into the favorite dishes of your child as ways to get toddlers to eat vegetables. The vegetables can be added as small pieces or you can crush them into the sauce or the dish so that they can’t see it. If they see big pieces, they will pluck it, but when it’s mixed with something they like to eat, they will eat it without picking it aside.
2. Introduce and reintroduce
The struggle of how to get toddlers to eat vegetables will never end until they grow up hence, keep introducing and reintroducing the vegetables to them. They may say no to peas today, but tomorrow they may actually say yes. This constant struggle to feed them vegetables will bring some negotiations when you introduce the vegetables regularly.
3. Presentation
If you present vegetables to improve kid’s eating habits in the same way as boiled form, then they will refuse it. But changing the presentation will go a long way. You can grate some cheese on it, you can fry the vegetables and then ask them to eat it. Coat into some flour and then present it to them.
4. Appearance
When you serve children veggies on a plate, without any decor, they will reject it and move forward with some other dish. This is why you can change its appearance. You can shape the vegetables to resemble a smiley, a car, their favorite ice cream, etc. Take up any object that they currently like. Simply changing its appearance will make it look more fun. You realize that you need to improve your toddler’s eating habits, and hence this will help you do the same.
5. Try till you succeed
There is more than one way to cook vegetables. For the healthy eating habits for kids, you can prepare them in the form of salted, roasted, fried, boiled, baked, raw, etc. Make a list of the vegetables that they like in each form. For example, they may love to eat boiled carrots but they would enjoy eating tomatoes raw. Keep a track of the same will help you feed it to them.
6. Colorful and fun
Vegetables don’t exist in only green color. Make your dish colorful. For instilling healthy eating habits for toddlers, you can make a dish with many colorful vegetables. The serving can be done in colorful bowls and you can also choose to have different styles, patterns, and color schemes for the bowls you use. While you are choosing the vegetables and bowls, you can take your child’s inputs as well. This will make them more inclined to eat their vegetables.
7. Dips and sauces
One of the fun ways for children to eat vegetables is to make them interactive and versatile. Vegetables will have nutritional value even when they consume it with some dips and sauces. Stock up their favorite sauces and dips. Present them with the multiple options to choose from so that they can eat it with whatever flavor of sauce they like.
8. Dishes with filling
Dishes such as tacos, pizzas, burgers, burrito, etc. all of them have filling inside them. This is one of the best and fun ways for toddlers to eat vegetables as they cannot open the dish and nitpick the vegetables. The filling will be full of cheese, sauce, and potato, and hence they will not realize the amount of vegetables you have put in it. This is why you can make these dishes often, and you can include vegetables in them.
9. Knowledge
When children know where the vegetables come from, how they are grown, the process of growing the vegetables, etc. will make it more interesting. Take them to a place where they can grow different kinds of vegetables. You can even have a backyard garden wherein you can have them grow plants and trees of different vegetables. When they will be involved in the process, they will be more eager to taste the vegetables.
10. Complimentary flavors
Presenting with dips and flavors that will match the vegetables will make it more delicious. Sweet carrots will not go with the spicy sauce. Rather, the tangy tomatoes will go best with the salty and spicy sauces. You can use hummus to get them to eat more bland vegetables such as broccoli, etc.
11. Cooking vegetables with parents
The parents can involve the children to cook the dishes with them. The dish you cook can be easy and can include just one vegetable. Make it in different forms and include it in 2-3 dishes. This is how you can get them to get more excited to eat the vegetables.
The vegetables that you make them eat, they don’t have to eat all of them. If you can get them to eat just half a bowl, you can call it a victory. You can try one trick every day that I have suggested, and eventually, they will get used to including vegetables in their meals.