Kids Will Eat Vegetables

It's the age-old challenge faced by us moms: Getting kids to eat their veggies. We know they need them, but we're not always sure how to get the veggies into the mouths and more importantly into the stomachs of our children. Multi-vitamins may be a safety net, but they can't make up for all of the benefits of eating real vegetables. Scientists find out more every day about all the positive impacts those colorful vegetables have on our health. The trick for us moms is to figure out how to get our kids to eat - and even enjoy - vegeatables. In familes whose kids do just that, there are common characteristics, including:

Expectations: "It's the way we eat." Vegetables are abundant in the house and are eaten for snacks and meals, and this is modeled by parents every day who visibly enjoy eating a variety of vegetables.

Consistency: Parents don't give in to resistance or tantrums. There is some kind of rule about eating vegetables and once the kids realize mom and dad mean it, they eventually stop resisting or battling.

Equality: Vegetables get treated like other foods. They aren't made into the 'yucky' food you have to eat before getting the 'good' stuff like fruit or dessert.

Experiences: Almost always the families include the kids in cooking, vegetable gardening, shopping and putting food away, visiting farmers' markets and setting up and clearing the table.

Conversations: The families eat together and have real conversations about food - the tastes, the colors, the shapes, the smells, the textures.

Education: The parents of kids who eat vegetables spend time educating kids through books, talk, movies, and more about how what we eat directly affects our health, sports performance, learning ability and appearance.

Encouragement: Parents invite kids to be adventurous eaters and celebrate when new foods are tried, whether it is perceived as healthy or not.

Prioritizing: These parents prioritize health, knowing how important it is to have a happy life. They schedule time to cook and to pack healthy meals and snacks.

Responsibility: The parents view taking care of our bodies through eating well, being active and other means as a responsibility that comes along with the opportunity we have to be and stay healthy.

Do the families I've met over the years all do each of these things everyday? No. Do I do most of these things consistently? No. What happens is that in families whose kids will eat vegetables, some of these are happening daily and others go in streaks. It takes time and consistency, like everything else we do as moms. This can definitely be a challenge, especially given the busy lives we lead. If you want your kids to eat more vegetables, choose one or two of the above areas and make a plan for yourself and be consistent, even when it is hard and you are exhausted, and I remember when I had a 3 ½ year old and 1 year old twins what it felt like to be exhausted by all of this. Hold in your mind a vision of your healthy children enjoying vegetables each day and stay focused on that vision as you keep trying to figure out what will work for your family.