5 Tips for Getting Your Child to Enjoy Veggies

 There’s the common stereotype that children utterly hate vegetables. There are plenty of cartoons in the day that even reflect this sentiment while still pushing for kids to eat them. Every teenager and adult knows the importance of vegetables. Veggies are packed with vitamins, fiber, antioxidants, and so much more and all of these help the immune system while preventing things such as diseases or cancers. But telling a child this doesn’t matter, because children don’t exactly think about the future much. So, what can be done? How can you get your child to enjoy vegetables? These are a few ways to achieve that.

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Ask them what makes them dislike veggies

Simple enough, right? Chances are, there’s a reason why they don’t like eating them. It could be the taste, and this is very valid. While it’s true children are incredibly picky eaters it’s important to look into ways to expand their palette while at the same time catering to their tastebuds. Vegetables are known for not tasting the best unless they’re cooked or seasoned in a proper way. So why not try experimenting to see what your child likes? There are plenty of benefits of cooking your own meals and cooking per taste is one of them.

Set a good example

Children tend to copy what their parents do, so if you eat your veggies, your children will be far more inclined to eat theirs. If children see that their parents are enjoying all of these healthy foods it's going to let them know that it’s normal and they’re going to copy what their parents are doing. So eat more veggies and serve them for your meals, as this could be a perfect way to get the whole family on board for eating healthy.

Get your child to cook with you

As mentioned earlier, you need to know what they dislike about veggies. But getting them to see how you cook and letting them help is going to push them to feel proud of what they made and they’re going to more than likely choose to eat what they helped make. So why not look into some easy recipes you and your little one can make together? A great example would be the sesame chicken recipe or even a casserole.

Praise them

Every time your little one eats veggies, just praise them for it. They’ll start associating eating veggies with positive emotion and this can be one of the best ways to get them feeling proud and involved. But you should tell them exactly what they did so they know they’re getting praised for eating the veggies and not anything else. It’s better to be positive and have positive reinforcements for your child rather than anything negative.

Just keep on trying

While it’s never easy to get a child to follow directions, the best thing you can do is to keep on trying. Just keep pushing for them to eat healthily, but also don’t forget that this is something that will require a lot of patience too.