How to Get Your Kids to Eat More Vegetables

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Vegetables are rich in vitamins and minerals, and that’s why we want our children to eat loads of them. But most children try their best to avoid eating vegetables. This article discusses certain ways by which you can get them to eat veggies.

 

1. Be innovative  – Be innovative when you serve vegetables to your children. For example, you can cut out flower shapes out of carrots, tomatoes, cabbage, etc and serve them raw. Else, use a variety of colorful raw vegetables like tomato, carrots, coriander leaves, spring onions, cabbage, beetroots, etc to set up a vegetable bowl and ask your kids to eat it out. Children love creative ideas of this sort which may help kindle their interest in consuming vegetables.
2. Add them to other food – Adding veggies to other foods in such a way that their taste gets increased helps children eat them. You can add grated carrot to idli batter; finely chopped and fried cabbage can be added to wheat flour dosa batter; spinach and other green leafy veggies can be added to dosa batter; grated beetroot can be kneaded along with chappati atta; finely chopped beans, cauliflower, capsicum, carrots and potato can be added to noodles and soup; and so on. Children will simply love these veg delicacies.
3. Raise a garden – Surveys testify that children would love to eat any veggie that is grown in their own garden. So, plant a kitchen garden at your back yard. If you don’t own one, use cardboard boxes or pots to raise veggies like tomatoes, lady’s fingers, coriander, spring onions, brinjals, capsicums, etc. in your balcony space. Let your children take care of the garden by watering and manuring them. You can also ask them to harvest veggies for you whenever needed.
4. Serve them crispy – Crispy eatables are kids’ favorites. So, roast vegetables till they become golden and crispy. Cut a vegetable into small bits, add a few spoonful’s of cooking oil, add salt, mix well and roast them in a kadai or in a microwave. Serve hot. You children will surely love this. This works in almost all cases.
5. Get kids’ help in preparing dishes – You can get small kids to rinse them, and you make the older ones peel and chop them. Involving your kids in preparing dishes can make them interested in eating them. You need not feel something like you are troubling the kids. They will only be too glad that you asked help from them.
6. Eat veggies yourself – Parents are the role models for most kids. So, eat loads of vegetables yourself. Let your children watch it. You can even talk to them of why you love eating vegetables while you are eating them. They too will learn eating vegetables.
7. Teach them about vegetables and their goodness – Read along with them books with colorful pictures of vegetables. Tell them of how they are cultivated at farms. Talk to them about the nutrients that vegetables provide, and the benefits of these nutrients in our body. Take them to the market while you buy vegetables. Allow them to participate in choosing vegetables for you.
8. Cook vegetables in a tasty way – Children love to eat their food only when it is tasty. If your child doesn’t like a vegetable, probably he doesn’t like the way you are cooking it. So, try a different style, use butter instead of olive oil, add grated cheese to veg dishes, etc. Now-a-days, there are lots of easy recipes found at the web for cooking veggies deliciously. So, getting your kids to eat vegetables may be just a few clicks away!