Is your child a picky eater? Does he or she avoids looking at the food and throw tantrums while pushing a plate of vegetables? If yes, then you are not alone! Parents are tired of trying different ways to encourage their children to eat vegetables hidden in various meals. Greater frustrations makes it tough for your child to eat vegetables as balanced nutrition. We know that vegetables are beneficial to our health and getting your child into the habit of eating vegetables is a challenging task.
According to nutritionists, children under eight years of age must consume 2 to 4.5 servings of vegetables each day. Eating vegetables saves your children from chronic illnesses and aids to boost immunity in the upcoming stages of their life. To ensure your child gets a balanced meal and includes vegetables in their diet, there are different ways how to make your child eat vegetables.
Keep Exposed To Vegetables:
Exposing to vegetables in front of your kids is a great way to show veggies in their eyes. If your child refuses to eat a tomato or spinach, it becomes easily discouraged and makes it difficult for him or her to eat. the best way to deal with this problem is to keep offering the same vegetable and eat it in front of your child. This helps to try that certain vegetable and will eventually eat it. When you introduce a new vegetable to your toddler and did not like it at first, try to cut them into small pieces to prevent being overwhelmed by a huge serving.
Get Involved In Shopping And Preparation:
Taking your children grocery shopping is a great solution to see the freshness and the appearance of vegetables in the market. Even if you don’t bring your kids to the market, bring some vegetables from the store and show them when you return home. If you have brought your child to the store, spend ample time at the vegetable section to know about each veggie. Do talk to your kids about what each vegetable is called and how it tastes.
Cooking Together:
Cooking is a fun and loving activity where you can plan a weekend meal with your child in the kitchen. Do make a vegetable dish, and tell your child the benefits of eating spinach or any vegetable. This helps to benefit your child from eating vegetables and aids to get involved in chores in the kitchen. To develop this habit within your children is to cook a meal together and may develop a passion for cooking.
Cut Vegetables Into Shapes:
Children eat vegetables if there are shapes that have never seen before in their lives. To get your child used to eat veggies is to cut them into small shapes like stars, circles, triangles, etc. Hence, they would have never seen a tomato in a form of a square or a cabbage in a star. This attracts them to vegetables and so helps to eat them.
Hidden Vegetables:
Kids are really stubborn. Often, we get tired of running after kids all day hearing them shouting and throwing tantrums. There is a quick solution to make your child eat vegetables without showing any recognition. Simply, make their favourite dish, and mash the vegetables in. Have you noticed how your child pushes the plate? But if you say “here is the bird flying around! ” your child is more likely to eat it, thinking it’s a bird that is flying around.
Make Vegetables Tasty:
Some people do not like veggies due to the bitter taste. People have different tastes which are one reason why kids avoid eating vegetables. For this reason, you can make a vegetable tasty by roasting, frying, grilling and so on. You can mix it with other veggies and other food to make it nutritious and healthy for your child. More importantly, check your child’s taste. Which method of cooking does your child eat? Does he or she like it roasted or salted?
Conclusion:
Getting your child to eat vegetables are not easy and children are fussy eaters when it comes to vegetables. Ensuring balanced nutrition requires how to make your child eat vegetables. Once your child gets into the habit of eating vegetables, he or she will not become a picky eater and helps to add a complete and balanced meal! To boost immunity and save from illnesses, allow your child to eat vegetables.
Good luck with making your child eat vegetables!
