Needless to say, vegetables are critically beneficial for Children’s health (and yours too). But, how to get children eat vegetables is virtually an all-too-common challenge to every parent.

First of all, to get children eat vegetables, you as parents, need make vegetables as an option to them. According to Doctor Leann Lipps Birch and Kirsten Krahnstoever Davison, children’s food preferences and food-intake patterns are largely shaped by the foods parents choose to make available to them.

When babies start eating table food, what parents eat is going to be a big influence on what kids like to eat. In another word, it will be surprising to see children develop a taste for vegetables if parent rarely serve them with meals.

Second, if children refuse eating vegetables or reject some specific types, don’t give up so easily. Doctor Birch and Davison’s research shows that if children have repeated opportunities to sample some new foods, at least some of them will be accepted.

Third, and most important, set a good example. If parent himself/herself is a vegetable eater, it will be much more convincing to persuade and train children to follow suit.

These are the tips I used to train DD to eat vegetables. Since DD was month 6, I fed her with varieties of vegetables. Currently, she loves eating carrots, sweet potato, tomato, bell pepper, green beans, spinach, avocado, cilantro and tofu. She accepts peas, squash, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, celery and onion. Overall, she takes two or more toddler servings of green leafy or yellow vegetables daily.

One way to get DD eat vegetables is to cook them tender, which is good for her digestion and easy for her consumption (considering she only has several teeth). Another creative way is to camouflage vegetables with other foods, like broiling green beans in delicious home-made chicken broth, mixing chopped tomatoes with beef meat balls, making casseroles with spinach and bacon, or adding carrots and celery to chicken noodle soup. I also try to make the vegetables naturally tasty without adding much seasons and spices.

Beginning today, I am going to share with you some of my recipes in the category How to get children eat vegetables. These recipes are quite easy to do and most can be finished within half an hour. Hope these recipes will help your children eat vegetables.

Resource:
Birch, L.L., Davison, K.K. (2001). Family environmental factors influencing the developing behavioral controls of food intake and childhood overweight, Pediatric Clinics of North America, Volume 48, Issue 4, Pages 893-907. 

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Tags: How to get children eat vegetables? | From Lina, Get children eat vegetables, Second Year | Lina | September 22, 2009 11:21 am | Comments (0)