“Eat Your Vegetables!”

This summer we spent a lot of time at the pool, at the beach, and traveling.  I’ll be honest and say we ate more than our fair share of mini corn dogs and nachos at the pool grill this summer.  While lots of fresh fruit is always on our plates during summer, vegetables make rare appearances.

Now that summer is ending and we are getting back into our school routine, it’s time to get back to the dinner table (with the tv off!) and back to well-balanced, healthy meals.  Unfortunately for the kids, this does mean eating your vegetables.

The kids that live in my house are not adventurous eaters.  They are not “open” to new foods.  Taking them to the Farmer’s Market or having them help in my garden is not going to get them to eat broccoli.   Nope. Been there, done that.  Broccoli literally produces tears at our dinner table (well, tears from one kid and gagging from the other…I won’t name names).  Even my husband hates broccoli.  The joke in our house is that if Bridget is making broccoli, then Daddy must have made her mad that day.  Cheese is not going to suddenly make that cute little “tree” palatable.  It’s not going to happen.

These are 6 real-life tips I have learned in the last couple of years to get your kids to “Eat Your Vegetables!”

1. Prep work:   Talk up healthy eating & veggies as part of the back to school routine.  Over the last couple of weeks, I have started conditioning them by saying “you know in a couple of weeks you have to start eating vegetables again?”  Groan.   But you’d be surprised how much more compliant they will be if you have prepped them in advance.  When it’s wrapped up into earlier bedtime, eating at the dinner table, and talking about school, it’s easier for them to swallow.   Now if you’ve actually been making them eat vegetables all summer long, then you won’t have this problem.  You can skip to #2.

2. Colors of the Rainbow:  When I find myself getting stuck on raw carrots and corn (yes, I’m aware that corn is a “grain” and not a “vegetable”), I remind myself and the kids that we need to make sure we are eating all of the colors of the rainbow and not too many of the same color over and over.  Green, white, yellow, red, and orange are all in the rotation.  It’s an easy concept for them to understand and go along with.  “Tonight is white night!”  Bring on the cauliflower!

3. Branch out, but not too far:  I used to dread the vegetable portion of dinner making until I decided it was a challenge.  I keep trying new things until I find something they will tolerate.  Surprise findings:  Dude likes oven-roasted kale (we call them “veggie chips”) and Dudette likes roasted cauliflower.  It only took 20 failed efforts to figure that out.  But now I have a few more go-to’s on the rotation.  I still make sure to go with the favorite standbys often enough though so we don‘t wage a veggie battle on a regular basis.  Dinner time is a sacred, rare calm time in our house and I don’t want it marred by green tear stains.

4. Set a Good Example:  Make sure you aren’t letting your own adversity to vegetables (or just certain ones) get in the way of your little ones eating well.  Personally, I hate peas.  They were disgusting when I was 4 and they are still disgusting at age 34.  But….somehow I came to terms with the fact that both my dear husband and Dudette actually like peas.  Ugh.  So it was only recently that I bought my first bag of frozen peas. Ever.  It still grosses me out pouring those things into a pot of boiling water, but knowing she will eat them with no fuss or muss gets me over my pea-prejudice.  My husband will also eat his dreaded broccoli and all 3 of them make a scene about it, but they have fun doing it.  You’ve got to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

5. Hide it!  If you haven’t heard of Jessica Seinfeld’s cookbook, “Deceptively Delicious,” and are willing to put forth a little effort once a month or so, you can be sure your kiddos are getting their nutrients without the nightly battle.  I happen to agree with her philosophy that the veggies still need to be on the plate in plain sight every night, but we all  know you are often reduced to compromising with a few bites of asparagus instead of the ideal full serving.  If the veggies (and fruit and protein) are hidden throughout the meal, then you can make that compromise and feel better about it.  Cauliflower and chickpea purees are the easiest to hide in my experience.  It’s all about trial and error with your kids’ palates and starting small.  Believe me, if you try to hide too much it will be an epic fail.  There is still talk about the super gross chicken nuggets I made one night at least a year ago (way too much puree hidden in the batter!).  We all picked off the breading and happily ate just the chicken.  If you’ve got a blender or Cuisinart, and about 30 minutes, you can whip up enough puree to last you weeks.  I promise it’s easy.

It’s really not that time-consuming to puree frozen or roasted veggies and then throw them into a freezer bag for later use. They are super easy to defrost at the last-minute too, so no real pre-planning needed once you have your stash.

 

6. Old-Fashioned Bribery & Other Tactics:  A household “chore chart” is also part of our back to school routine. It helps for the kids to see in concrete terms what is expected of them.   Last year I added “eat vegetables” to the list.  And I added the incentive of double stickers for vegetables.  A certain number of stickers at the end of the month equals a small reward.  This works for a while, then the resistance sets in again.  So then it’s on to “if you want dessert, you must eat those vegetables” (or at least try them if it’s something new).  Or we can have a small glass of a special drink like juice or lemonade to swallow down after the nasty bites.  I have also been known to randomly blurt out “I will pay you $1 if you try that asparagus and eat it all.”  Confession:  I did pay them $5 each  to try fresh fish at a beach restaurant last week and they loved it!  Obviously this is not a tactic to employ on a regular basis, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures!

We employ all of these tactics in our house.  Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t.  Keep at it and before long you realize you are sounding just like your parents: “Eat Your Vegetables!”

Bridget
Bridget was born and raised in San Antonio and moved back here after college and law school. She is a wife, full-time attorney, wrangler of four kids ages 15, 13, 3 and almost 2. As both a stepmom and mom, her life and house is always full and she loves to share about blended family life. Bridget is also passionate about infertility advocacy after having suffered multiple miscarriages and multiple rounds of IVF. Now with her stepkids, rainbow baby, and surprise baby, her family is complete and she is soaking up every minute of motherhood!

3 COMMENTS

  1. As someone that has always eaten everything, it’s really odd to me to have my youngest that is SO picky. Good tips and I’m definitely going to put these to good use!

  2. @ Sarah, you should have seen the look on my husband’s face when I offered to pay them to eat fish. Luckily, we were on vacation and being silly, so that won’t happen again anytime soon! Threatening dessert usually does the trick!

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