Getting Kids To Eat Veggies: Part 8
When getting kids to eat veggies, it often comes down to a battle of the wills: Parent vs. Child.
And maybe I'm just an overly competitive control freak, but there are some fights I don't want to lose. Getting kids to eat well is one of those battles.
My oldest son has a knack for turning everything into a full-blown drama. Back when he was in the height of Learning To Like Veggies, he would kick and scream and wail whenever the offending food came anywhere near his mouth. I think I saw some foam bubble out his mouth a few times, all from the sheer horror of it all.
One of my Standard Parental Rules is to never give into a tantrum.I've always followed through on that because I am the Poster Child for Exceptional Mothering. So when every veggie bite turned into a Scream Fest, I knew something had to be done. Here's the trick:
And if they keep crying? Give more bites until the child can successfully chew and swallow one bite without the theatrics.
Oh, it sounds evil. But if you've been a parent of a strong-willed child long enough, you know the difference between "throwing a fit" kind of crying and "something is actually wrong" crying. And with veggies? It's usually going to be the "fit."
It didn't turn my son into a veggie-lover overnight, but after a few days, it did calm our mealtimes down. He finally learned that Mama and Dada meant business, and that Trying Veggies And Being Relatively Happy About It was the norm for our family.
If your child isn't a screamer? Maybe you have a whiner or a complainer on your hands. This tip can work well for those behaviors too.
Check out my other tips in the series and stay tuned for the remaining two!
Lots of helpful tips can be found over at Rocks In My Dryer, at her Works For Me Wednesday party!
And maybe I'm just an overly competitive control freak, but there are some fights I don't want to lose. Getting kids to eat well is one of those battles.
My oldest son has a knack for turning everything into a full-blown drama. Back when he was in the height of Learning To Like Veggies, he would kick and scream and wail whenever the offending food came anywhere near his mouth. I think I saw some foam bubble out his mouth a few times, all from the sheer horror of it all.
One of my Standard Parental Rules is to never give into a tantrum.
Make 'em eat a bite without crying.
And if they keep crying? Give more bites until the child can successfully chew and swallow one bite without the theatrics.
Oh, it sounds evil. But if you've been a parent of a strong-willed child long enough, you know the difference between "throwing a fit" kind of crying and "something is actually wrong" crying. And with veggies? It's usually going to be the "fit."
It didn't turn my son into a veggie-lover overnight, but after a few days, it did calm our mealtimes down. He finally learned that Mama and Dada meant business, and that Trying Veggies And Being Relatively Happy About It was the norm for our family.
If your child isn't a screamer? Maybe you have a whiner or a complainer on your hands. This tip can work well for those behaviors too.
Check out my other tips in the series and stay tuned for the remaining two!
Lots of helpful tips can be found over at Rocks In My Dryer, at her Works For Me Wednesday party!
7 comments:
Great idea. I've been doing the one bite thing, but it never progresses past the drama. A few bites and they may actually like it.
My trick is to put the high chair in front of the tv with a kids show on. We don't have cable so kids shows are few and far between (just dvd's) and I notice my toddler gets in such a zoned out state that he will eat ANYTHING and everything that I place in front of him, including a huge plate of veggies: carrots, kale, spinach, celery, you name it. By the end of it he's even asking for more. I also stick veggies into everything (zucchini bread, carrot muffins, etc) and offer veggies first thing in the morning when they're the most hungry/least tired, and often the most adventurous. More so then supper time anyways.
When I start cooking dinner I always prepare the vegies first and put them in bowls and leave them on the kitchen bench where they are accessible. The kids being hungry start sniffing around and pick on the vegies whilst I'm cooking. So when I serve dinner they have already eaten some or all of their vegies and I don't have to battle with them as much.
Sometimes I make a game out of them picking on the vegies by pretending that I didn't see them eating them and I can't work out why they keep disappearing and cut up some more. This encourages them to eat even more. LOL
Ooh! Hope I have success like you did. I have one kiddo who makes herself sick just thinking about veggies. Drives me bonkers. I love veggies.
A "kids and veggies tip"..... I've discovered Balsamic Vinegar comes in a SPRAY bottle! The kids think its fabulous! They love to squirt AND all their veggies taste like salt and vinegar chips!!!! Win Win!
They can also add the colour black to every meal - we count colours eaten at our place, 5 colours and you can leave the table; 6 and mummy sings a silly song; 7 gets rewarded with a treat!
Fiona
hmmmm - this trick sounds interesting. I just might give it a try. :)
We call them "No Thank You Bites." If we are serving an food that is objectionable to my 7 year old - she can take 2 or 3 POLITE "No Thank You Bites". If rude comments or grumbling occurs, then she has to eat a minimum of 4 or 5 bites. The worse the objections, the more she has to eat. Once in a while, she actually finds something she likes!
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