Participation Turns Kids Into Vegetable Eaters
Children Eat Veggies By Choosing, Growing and Cooking Them
May 10, 2009 Christine E. Taylor
"Basics of Raising Vegetable-Loving Children" discusses how to build a foundation for your family's love of vegetables. This article will look at four ways to increase your children's acceptance of healthful foods through participation.
Your kids will grow to love vegetables the more they are involved in the process of getting them to the dinner table. Depending on your family and location, this can mean shopping at the grocery store, visiting the farmers’ market, helping with a vegetable garden, or selecting and cooking vegetable sides and meals.
Grocery Shopping with Your Kids
For many families, grocery shopping with kids is a bit of a nightmare. Meltdowns resulting from boredom or denial of junk food can turn a 30-minute excursion into the longest part of your week. You can change this, and use the trip as another opportunity to get your children excited about vegetables.
Come prepared with a list of produce you need for the week, and assign certain items to your children (1-2 items for preschoolers, 3-4 items for elementary age kids, on up to the full list for teenagers). Assign the most brightly colored items to the kids, because they aren’t likely to get jazzed over choosing the brownest potato.
Use this is an opportunity to learn about selecting the finest example of each vegetable. For example, tell your 7-year-old that the tomatoes she selects should be firm and heavy. Ask your 12-year-old to select broccoli stalks that are tightly closed, bright green and aren't dried out at the bottom.
Make Farmers’ Markets a Part of Your Life
The sights and smells of a farmers’ market inspire excitement about nature’s bounty. Because fruits and vegetables are available only seasonally, there is a true sense of anticipation when the first tomatoes of the summer arrive, or when corn is plentiful and sweet.
Bringing your family to the farmers’ market every week, or even once a month, will provide them with a connection to the seasons and the varied produce each part of the year heralds. Find a farmers’ market in your area on Local Harvest.
Vegetable Gardens Grow Excitement
Whether you live on 5 acres of land or in an apartment, your kids can grow vegetables. Cherry tomatoes are sweet and easy to grow, either in a container or in an outdoor garden. Sugar snap peas, beans and carrots are also very kid-friendly vegetables to grow and savor.
You children will be so proud to serve the family something that they’ve grown from seed or starter plant, and it will keep them involved and excited about vegetables. When you visit the farmers’ market, see if your child can make a connection with a farmer who grows what he is growing at home.
What’s for Dinner, Kids?
Provide your children with a well-illustrated, healthful cookbook and let them choose the menu tonight. Molly Katzen’s Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: A Cookbook for Preschoolers and Up is an engaging, colorful book full of vegetable-based, kid-friendly recipes.
Once they’ve chosen the recipe, go the grocery store or farmers’ market together to shop for the ingredients. Be their sous-chef (or assistant): chop the ingredients, read the recipe aloud, do any sautéing or steaming. Older children and teenagers may be able to handle the whole recipe unassisted.
For more fun veggie games and challenges, read "Healthy Food Games For Kids".
Even if your children refuse vegetables now, don't despair. Getting kids involved with choosing, cooking and growing healthful foods will soon result in an increased acceptance and love of vegetables as a part of their daily diet.
Gardens Grow Kids Excited about Veggies
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