Kids And Vegetables: Give Up the Fight

Almost every parent knows the struggle is real when it comes to getting children to eat vegetables every day.  Children can be stubborn and loud when they don’t want to do something and that can be very frustrating for a parent or caregiver.  It would be much easier to give up and let the kid live off chicken nuggets, but that, of course, would lead to malnutrition and/or childhood obesity.

Studies have shown that most children need to be around a vegetable at least 25 times before the child will get used to it.  A child will be more likely to eat a healthy diet when he is served vegetables on a daily basis and the experience is a positive one.  This means that the child should be able to “check the veggie out” by looking at it, touching it with his finger, or maybe just touching it to his tongue and then putting it down.  As long as the vegetables are on his plate, how he interacts with it should be up to him as long as it isn’t bothering anyone, of course.  Eventually, after playing ninja warriors with his carrots, he’ll be likely to pop one in his mouth and eat it.  No drama, no fighting.  It’s just there and everyone else is eating it, so it must be pretty good, right?

I had one daughter who hated vegetables so much that she would make gagging noises when she saw them.  I tried putting a bit of yellow mustard on the plate (adding ketchup or barbecue sauce for dipping adds sugar and extra calories), but she would just dip her finger into the mustard and lick it off.  She even went through a phase of mashing her vegetables and hiding them in her milk.  I thought that was pretty gross, but she would eventually get thirsty, so they got in her in tummy the end.  She is grown now and eats a mostly plant-based diet and loves vegetables. 

It will take some time and a little patience, but if you stick with it and stay consistent, they will accept fresh veggies as just something healthy that you eat every day!

Next time, we will talk about how to sneak veggies into meals while your child is figuring out the veggie situation.