One of the toughest challenges in parenting is convincing your children to eat vegetables. In the eyes of the child, vegetables are unattractive and unappealing. Yes, our healthy veggies, that even some adults put them aside. That shouldn’t be the case, though. Some of the effective ways to let your kids eat the veggies are to introduce it to them in a fashionably, tasty way, and to encourage good behavior on how to deal with them. Here’s how to make your kids eat veggies and set them on a healthier path.

Set An Example

What adults do; the kids will follow. Leading by example to your kids will most probably acquire their taste for greens. Always make vegetables or salads available at home. Eat and serve them to the table often, so your kids will have that concept of eating that same food.

Sneak Them in Well-Known Tasty Foods

If your kids like cookies, cupcakes, cake, sandwiches, spaghetti, mac and cheese, then grab that chance to incorporate those tiny, chopped, or mashed veggies. You can bake carrot or zucchini ginger or chocolate chip cookies. Make smoothies with kale or carrots with bananas, apples, strawberries, or kiwis and milk. Prep grilled cheese or with avocado or tuna and lettuce sandwich. Cook your kids’ favorite mac and cheese with hidden bits of mashed beans and peas.  Freshly baked goods with veggies are made possible with our Silicone Baking Pan.

Set Appropriate Eating Behaviors

As parents, you can instill proper behavior with your kids while they are young. There are a couple of behavioral tricks that you can impose to get your kids to eat veggies. Get them involved in helping to shop, prepare, and cook vegetable meals. Have them pick something to cook from the grocery store for lunch or dinner, then let them help clean, prepare, mix, and set tables. Their cooperation and excitement from preparing can make them eat some (if not most) of those veggie meals. You can also require your super picky kids to take at least one bite before they leave the table, instead of forcing them to finish the whole plate. Introduce them to different veggies to see which ones they like the most. Create a good food experience for them by also rewarding their good vegetable-eating behavior.

Talk About Veggies Positively

If you want your kids to also like vegetables, then you should talk about them positively. Share how the greens are grown, how healthy and strong they can be if they consume them, how they are prepped, and how delicious taking a bite of the pumpkin is. Explaining to your children at their level of understanding the goodness of eating veggies can go a long way.

Prep and Cook Veggies Differently

There are a bunch of ways to prep and cook veggies that your kids will love. They don’t want to see the same vegetable look they always see everywhere, instead, they want to see something different that they don’t have to notice those greens hanging from the dish. You can roast the broccoli, asparagus, zucchini together with bits of chicken for an enjoyable snack. You can squash tomatoes, pumpkin, and peas or blend them with your usual pasta sauce. Mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots are the classics. You can also make veggie soup and your kids won’t know the difference. Be sure to sprinkle them with other flavors such as using butter, cheese, and bits of bacon and garlic or make a dip to make them more appealing to their picky palates. Cook those nutritious greens using our Nonstick Fry Pan with Lid.

Offer Them in Different Colors and Patterns

Presenting the veggies in different colors and patterns can make it fun to look at and can even affect how they would taste. Kids love colorful foods or with different shapes, so most likely, they will eat those tasty vegetables. Green celeries and broccoli, red tomatoes, orange sweet potatoes, yellow beans, black olives, and more plated in attractive smiley faces, hearts, stars, cars, dinosaurs, cartoon characters, and much more. Pattern your colorful veggies with our Large Bamboo Cutting Board.

Grow Their Own Veggie Garden

What will make your kids appreciate the food is when you let them buy the ingredients, prepare and cook them. The same goes for letting them plant their own food. They can grow a small garden in your backyard and plant their chosen greens and crops. Once the veggies have grown, you can see the excitement of your kids as they harvest them. Their hard work in planting and growing them will make them appreciate their efforts, and can even help you prepare veggie-filled meals that they will enjoy.

Be Consistent

You’ve already laid the foundations in veggie-eating behavior and making these healthy greens fun and tasty for them to eat. Probably the most difficult part is maintaining and being consistent until they learn to appreciate the importance and continue consuming vegetables. If it’s hard for you to feed your child some veggies, don’t give up. They might not like them at first, but they may come to take a bite on your fourth attempt, and want them by the thirtieth attempt.

Kids’ refusal to eat vegetables is one of the most common issues parents face. The good news is, there are ways to motivate your children to make healthier choices and do some hacks to make these veggies more appetizing.