“I don’t like veggies, ew!”
“Broccoli? Yuck!”
“It makes me sick!”
Perhaps you have heard every possible protest when a child refuses to eat veggies. We have been there, and we understand your sentiments. But don't feel bad if kids are not eating your vegetables. That does not mean your cooking is bad nor have you failed them as a parent. In fact, you are not alone in this struggle. There are many parents just like you, who go through the same drag.
Ages past have revealed that children and veggies are not the best combination.
But regardless of how much they hate it, vegetables are highly nutritious. Veggies for kids are important to strengthen their bodies and supply the nutrients they need for growth and development. So if you are looking for the complete guide to make your kids eat their greens, you came to the right place!
We will tackle 4 important concepts to guide you on how to get kids to eat veggies:
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Tips to get kids to eat veggies
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What to do when kids refuse to eat greens
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Reasons why they despise vegetables
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Veggies for the non-vegetable-munching kiddos
10 Tips to Make Vegetable-eating a Habit!
Better with butter
Let’s face it, we all know why vegetables have a bad reputation with children. Broccoli, kale, bitter gourd, and cabbages all have a common denominator - bitterness.
Bitterness deviates from the biological programming of children. Ever since birth, humans are inclined to eat food that provides us with the energy we need. That is why we choose the sweeter sustenance over others. And this theory might also explain why your child refuses to eat bitter veggies.
One solution to make veggies for kids more appealing is by adding butter into the mixture. You can never deny how butter tends to improve the taste of food. From toast to lobster, to clams and even sweet chocolate desserts. Butter is one principal ingredient responsible for enhancing the flavor.
This selfsame magic may be integrated into vegetables as well. A tablespoon of butter added to some sautéd cup of greens can go a long way! Butter redesigns the taste of vegetables for kids who hate vegetables. Aside from that, butter aids in the absorption of the vitamins obtained from the greens. Helping children extract those nutrients they need from food for their bodies.
Pull a sneaky on them!
Vegetables on their own, not so good. But seamlessly inserting veggies in other regular meals? Kids wouldn’t even bat an eye!
Integrating various vegetables into normal day-to-day meals is another tactic. This is one of the most common strategies of parents on how to make kids eat vegetables. Instead of serving kids with plain ol’ greens, spice things up by giving them the food they like, made with ingredients they don’t. A bit devious but it works!
Here are some recipes you can try:
Broccoli spinach quinoa soup
Made by sauteing quinoa, spinach, potatoes, and some broccoli in a pan. Then proceeding to puree the mixture and using it as a base for your vegetable soup. Add cheese as the main flavor driver.
The nutty and thick texture would mask the taste of the veggies. You would not even suspect quinoa and spinach to be there.
Zucchini lasagna
Lasagna is a fan favorite among the kids. But the excessively high carbs from the pasta would not be healthy. Replace the noodles with the Vitamin B and C-rich zucchini strips and all other ingredients.
Take it from us, our kids love this meal even though my child will not eat vegetables. Now, this meal is a staple in our household!
Cauliflower pizza
Pizza shares the same carb-overload as lasagna. These may not be ideal meal choices for children as they may lead to obesity. Try re-creating the crust with cauliflower and significantly improve its health composition. Just add finely chopped cauliflower with eggs and almond flour, and knead your improved pizza crust!
How to get kids to eat veggies? Give them food they like, made with ingredients they don’t. *wink*
Parents provide, the child decides
Do you remember how as kids, we are often drawn to stuff our parents told us not to mess with? This same tale is applicable when you force kids to eat veggies.
Many kids fall victim to parental pressuring when it comes to eating vegetables. We understand, after all, veggies are indeed healthy and they need it for their bodies. But it doesn’t help to pressure kids in eating something they do not want. The more we force them to eat it, the less fond they become of the meal.
Parents should be responsible for what is served. Giving them healthy food options is one thing, but serving them veggies masqueraded as an appetizing meal is another. Make the veggies look as appealing as possible, but let kids come for them, naturally. When they are relaxed and there is no peer pressure around, kids can freely select foods which they like. This includes that delish vegetable meal you just prepared!
Practice what you preach
Perhaps, the biggest responsibility of parents is to lead by example to children. The same principle applies when eating greens. It would be very challenging to ask kids to eat veggies, if we, ourselves, don’t. Remember that kids will follow your lead, so make it count!
The principal factor that dictates kids’ food choices are the parents. And it would encourage kids to eat vegetables when they observe you enjoying the same food as well. Make vegetable eating a bonding session between you and your child. This is what makes family meals beautiful, because:
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You can pass on lessons on how important veggies are.
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You get to eat the same greens together.
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And most importantly, you build meaningful connections.
Their vegetable exploration is one way to make this possible!
Let them choose the veggies
When kids participate in the meal plan, they attain a certain sense of control over their decisions. This may aid in promoting their love for vegetables. So next time you go to the grocery store, bring your kids with you and let them choose which vegetable to try next!
This way, it is their autonomous decision to pick out the greens. This can serve as a stronger driving force for them to enjoy veggies. Of course, if they happen to pick something a bit challenging like bitter gourd, be creative and make a delicious-slash-fun meal out of it.
Parent-child cookfest
Another strategy to make veggies for kids appealing is to get them involved in the preparations. It can go as simple as asking them how they like their veggies cooked to inviting them to become your sous-chef for the day.
Cooking with children is a big milestone for kids. It means that you treat them as grownups and it can be liberating. When children feel like they are taking part in making big decisions, it can serve as an extra nudge to finally eat some greens.
Produce your own produce
You need all the help you can get on how to get kids to eat veggies. And this can be affected by the visual appearance of the greens. One reason why a child refuses to eat vegetables may be due to this aspect.
If you have your own small garden where you can freshly pick greeneries, kids might be more invested in the idea of eating veggies. Fresh garden vegetables look so many times more appealing than those found in grocery stores. On top of that, fresh veggies also taste so much better.
Produce your own visually enticing vegetables for kids who hate vegetables. You never know, they might find them yummy by the looks of it.
No reinforcements
Parents oftentimes fall into the trap of bribing or scaring children, just so they can get kids to eat greens. But contrary to popular belief, giving positive (or negative!) reinforcements is counterintuitive. It defeats the purpose of getting them to love vegetables. Ultimately, discouraging kids from making veggies their diet staples. Examples of reinforcement include:
Reinforcment can help support your cause initially. But it merely scratches the surface. When parents reinforce veggie consumption, kids’ desire to eat vegetables of their own free will is not inculcated. They also fail to develop their own food choice preferences. All of which can cause problems down the line.
Fun is always yum!
Kids have naturally high regard for foods that are not only visually appealing but also fun! This can be done by adding more vegetable varieties that children can choose from. And also changing the shapes, colors, textures, and taste of veggies, to steer them in the right direction.
For example, you can create vegeta-balls from a collection of different veggies. You may also cook some vegetable nuggets having various shapes and sizes. Dips are also healthy options to transform boring veggies into lively meal accompaniments.
Why do kids hate vegetables? Maybe because they are too plain.
When you mix fun with food, it helps in deviating the focus of kids from the veggies. Instead of dwelling on the vegetable ingredients in the meal, they focus more on the fun qualities that the food boasts of!
Introduce (and reintroduce!)
We have often heard of the saying “try and try until you succeed” many times before. But this inspirational quote can also be applied when a child refuses to eat vegetables. Don’t be too hard on the kid, maybe they haven’t gotten their taste buds around greens yet. What should parents do? Try and try until you succeed.
A study on picky eaters led by Dr. Betty Ruth Carruth suggested that it takes 8-15 exposures to a food before kids develop their liking to it. So do not fret if you fail to make them like kale on the first try, or they happen to spit that cabbage out after just one bite. You have many chances left. Just make sure to serve it in a fun and interactive manner, where parents and kids alike can enjoy it. That is one tool on how to get kids to eat veggies.
My child refuses to eat veggies, what to do now?
Don’t comment on their eating habits
Parents suddenly transform into food enforcers whenever their child refuses to eat the veggies. This is something you must resist doing as much as you can! If you served a balanced meal on the table then you already did a great job. The next step is finding the right angle on how to get kids to eat them. However, this task becomes increasingly difficult if you comment on their eating habits.
Go back to the drawing board
So you read our tips but somehow haven’t gotten the hand get kids to eat veggies huh? The best step forward is to go back to the drawing board. Try to analyze which aspects your kids loved the most about the food and weed out those they didn’t. Recalibrate your strategies in serving those veggies for kids. The right concoction is there, you just need to discover it!
Make the process as enjoyable as possible
I know you are perfectly aware of this: Kids love to have fun! And masking the taste of veggies in interactive and enjoyable meals might just do the trick. Go over our tips above and try to look for areas where you can have a little fun. That small hint of enjoyment might make the biggest difference.
My child will not eat vegetables, I wonder why?
It may be a recurring conundrum why your child refuses to eat vegetables. You and your partner might even adore veggies but why doesn’t your kid? If you are looking for answers to this age-old query, we got you covered.
Biological reasons
Kids require immense amounts of energy. In fact on a greater scale than what we adults require. For this reason, kids are instinctively geared to prefer food that provides energy. These are carbohydrate-rich foods or those sugary snacks.
No wonder they are addicted to chocolates and all things sweet!
Vegetables, on the other hand, are not calorically dense. This means that they contribute to satiation, but not much on the energy department. On the natural, kids will definitely stray away from these kinds of food. Especially because they are not well educated yet on the minerals they can get from veggies.
This is where you must intervene. It is your responsibility to maneuver veggies and get kids to eat these types of food.
Veggies are not exactly delicious
If one thing, as we have briefly mentioned above, vegetables are bitter. This is especially observed among greens and leafy vegetables like kale. And those cruciferous ones like broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower. This particular bitter taste is often caused by the following important bodily compounds:
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Calcium
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Phenols
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Flavonoids
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Terpenes
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Glucosmolates
Despite being beneficial, in nature, bitter taste is often associated with toxins and poisons. Given kids’ lack of exposure to the science behind veggies, they might instinctively consider vegetables toxic as well. That is why educating kids rely largely on parents. By teaching them how to eat vegetables and setting an example, kids slowly learn to realize the benefits that greens can offer.
Let the child-veggie relationship thrive
The difference why parents love veggies and kids don’t is that we had the time to develop our taste for vegetables. Through the years, we have learned to enjoy them as meals. We have also developed tolerance to its bitter taste.
This was possible because of repeated exposure.
As Dr. Carruth found out in her study, kids need around 8-15 exposures to a food before recognizing them as acceptable. Give your children time to get the hang of it and supplement veggies with proper training. Soon enough, your concern: “my child will not eat vegetables” will turn into a success.
Vegetables for Kids Who Hate Vegetables
Kids are generally not fond of eating vegetables. But there are some vegetables that every kid in town likes! You might just need to give it a little oomph but in essence, these are great options, to begin with.
TheSTEMKids have rounded up 15 vegetables for kids who hate vegetables. And you can check them out in the list below:
Bell peppers
Since children have a knack for sweet food, opt for the sweet bell peppers! These come in red, yellow, and orange colors. Cut them into strips and pair them with hummus, you now have sweet veggie snacks that the family can enjoy!
Sweet potatoes
The simplest way on how to make kids eat vegetables is to bank on already sweet ones. Sweet potatoes, and also squash, are the best options for this purpose. They exhibit more sweetness when you roast or saute them. Perfect veggies for the little sweet-tooths.
Grape tomatoes
One of the more overlooked vegetables (or fruit) that kids love is grape tomatoes. They match perfectly with dips like black beans which complement their sweet and sour taste. Now, these are veggies for kids to enjoy as casual snacks.
Spinach
Grab every opportunity you can to insert vegetables in regular day-to-day meals. Sometimes familiarization helps to develop their taste towards veggies. Spinach works great when incorporated with eggs. Give them an omelet breakfast with spinach bits and they will love it.
Corn
Whoever does not like corn on the cob? Serve kids grilled corn with butter dripping from the sides and they will go crazy. This can kickstart their liking, not only for corn cobs but for corn in general. Which you may capitalize for other nutritious meals!
Carrots
Carrots beat out all other veggies in the aesthetic department. Who can refuse that bright orange color? One way on how to get kids to eat veggies is by cutting carrots into strips and partnering some yogurt-based dip to it.
If you know other vegetables that kids generally like, even when they hate vegetables, kindly let us know in the comment section!
THE FINAL BITE
Eating vegetables is very similar to experiments. The exploration stage of tasting veggies might be a little scary. But once the kids learn the benefits and the science behind it, they can be fond of the taste and grow up enjoying veggies as much as we do.
TheSTEMKids also advocate exploration and learning through science toys for kids. Our portable microscope and microscope slides kit are sturdy kids’ toys that can help children develop their love for science at a young age. Much like how you try to encourage kids to eat vegetables while they're young.
We aim for a society where kids find science, not as a tedious subject. But a fun learning experience that they may share with their parents, grandparents, and friends!
Our kids portable microscope is still available today. Check one out and enjoy 15% OFF your purchase.