Many parents work hard to make sure their kids eat their vegetables. Some do very well, while others don't do very well at all. Vegetables have a lot of vitamins, minerals, and other important nutrients that your body needs to stay healthy and full of energy. They protect against the effects of getting older and lower the chance of getting cancer and heart disease.
If you want your child to eat vegetables, you should like them more yourself. Early on, a child tends to do almost everything like one or both parents. If you don't like a certain vegetable, your child will not like it either.
How and what you eat has a direct effect on your child. If you want your child to eat something you don't like, you should try to eat it first and then encourage your child to try a spoonful or plateful. It's hard to get kids to like a new food the first time they try it. Keep bringing them up every now and then.
Here are some tips on how to get your child to eat vegetables.
Blend some vegetables in a blender and add them to spaghetti sauce or any other dish to make it more interesting.
Keep a big plate of raw or grated green salad on hand. Cucumbers, tomatoes, celery, lettuce, carrots, cabbage, onion, radish, and so on can all be used to make a salad. You can eat salads with a meal or as a snack in between meals.
- While making sandwiches for lunch, add lettuce, tomato slice or carrots in between. Adding a little bit of vegetables to a chicken, tuna, or pasta salad makes it taste even better.
- If your child loves noodles, add some boiled or lightly steamed vegetables.
- When making pizza, you can add chopped broccoli, spinach, etc., as well as other toppings.
Adding a little bit of melted cheese to soups that already have vegetables changes the taste in a big way.
