How to teach children to eat vegetables?

No broccoli, no carrots, no green peas, no zucchini… “No thanks, Mom.” If you want your child to still appreciate healthy food and get the vitamins, minerals and fiber they need for growth and development, here are some easy ways to instill a love of vegetables in your children. Yes, and you too.

1. Start with vegetables

As the French say, “hunger is the best seasoning.” Karen LeBillon, in French Children Eat Everything, writes that vegetables are best served first: children get hungry and pounce on them before stuffing their stomachs with macaroni and cheese.

And if you put a small portion of the main dish on the plate, the kids will eat more of the side dish, because they will still be hungry. This simple truth has been scientifically proven. By the way, when we are hungry, food tastes better. The question of how to accustom to vegetables disappears by itself!

2. Don’t talk about benefits

“Eat vegetables – you will grow strong and strong!”; “You will have beautiful long hair!” A scientific study has shown that children are more likely to eat vegetables if their parents do not bother them with boring advice. When placing a plate in front of your baby, don’t say or expect anything out of the ordinary – and watch what happens.

3. Turn everything into a game

Brilliant in its simplicity advice from the American book on baby food “Lunch: A Love Story.” How to teach children to eat vegetables? One mother asked the children to close their eyes, bite off a piece of bell pepper and asked if they could guess the color – red, green or yellow? Carried away by the game, the kids ate colorful vegetables with passion.

4. Use Marketing Techniques

How to teach to eat vegetables? Take a cue from marketers – conduct a “rebrand” so that vegetables in the eyes of a child become something more intriguing. Dried cranberries – “red raisins”. Brussels sprouts are “little salads”. Cauliflower is “white broccoli”. One of the oldest marketing tricks has been on the market for so many years – it really works.

5. Eat with the whole family

Let the family dinner become something special for the children. Karen Le Billon explains that children are fascinated by the French tradition of laying a beautiful table. “Candles, decorations, napkins… Ask your child to help you with serving: this ritual has a magical effect on the kids and makes them behave perfectly at the table.”

6. Stay at the table longer

When everyone has finished eating, you can sit at the table together and chat. Let the child feel what a joy it is – a joint meal and an interesting conversation. You can talk about something interesting for the baby: “What color do you think dad is going to buy a car?”; “Remember that funny costume that girl had on the playground?” By the way, after talking and listening, the child often eats up what he rejected at first.

7. Food is not a reward, not a punishment, and not a bribe.

Another great rule from Le Billon’s book. A child is not a puppy, and you should not lure him with cookies if he does not want to leave the playground. So you use food for other purposes – as a bribe or reward. In the future, this can lead to the habit of “seizing” negative emotions and stress.

If the baby is tired and naughty, you can say: “Let’s go see dad, he is waiting for us!” or “Let’s go play with your toy train.”

8. You may not love, just try!

According to pediatric nutritionists, most children need to try a new food up to 15 times before they fall in love with it. Therefore, if the baby does not like some vegetable, try again and again.

The dining table is not a battlefield. French parents do not struggle with the problem of how to teach them to eat vegetables, and do not put pressure on children. “If the child has tried and refuses to eat, the parents simply remove the plate, without comment,” writes Le Billon.

Let the atmosphere at the table remain light: children eat with great appetite and pleasure if you talk about interesting things and do not make food a problem.