Getting Kids To Eat Veggies: Part 9
Talkin' snark? Check.
Usin' logic? Check.
Actin' adult? Check.
Unfortunately, these traits of mine do nothing for the 2- to 4-year-old crowd. Especially at mealtimes.
This next tip in the "getting kids to eat veggies" series is a hoot for the kids, but a barrel of work for me. I'm nearly seven years into this Mama Gig and have probably pulled off "Fun Mama" about one and three-seventeenth times. But I've learned from others, and here's one way they get their kids to eat veggies:
Three examples:
Usin' logic? Check.
Actin' adult? Check.
Unfortunately, these traits of mine do nothing for the 2- to 4-year-old crowd. Especially at mealtimes.
This next tip in the "getting kids to eat veggies" series is a hoot for the kids, but a barrel of work for me. I'm nearly seven years into this Mama Gig and have probably pulled off "Fun Mama" about one and three-seventeenth times. But I've learned from others, and here's one way they get their kids to eat veggies:
Turn it into a game.
Three examples:
- Reverse Psychology. In your best Sing Song Voice, say to your child, "Whatever you do, dooooonnn'ttttt eat your broccoli! Don't eat it!! I saaaaaiiiiiddd, DON'T EAT IT!!!!!" The Stretch Mark Papa (ha ha!) has great success with this one. And each time the game starts, I mentally doom it to failure. Pfft. Who knows how much damage this does to "obedience," but hey. It works. Snnneeerrrrrkkkkk.
- Personification. Give those veggies personalities and feelings (whatever those are). When I first watched "Party In My Tummy," I thought it was the dumbest, most ineffective veggie-eatin' motivation video I had seen in my life. Doomed to failure!!
But my four-year-old caught a rare viewing and now? We sing the song at our table. (Oh, pardon me. The Stretch Mark Papa sings the song at our table.) And it works for my boy. He feels sad for the veggies left behind on the plate. Imagine that. - "Off-Limits" Appetizers. While making a meal, set aside some of the veggies you are chopping up, and let the kids "sneak" and "steal" from the pile. And HAR HAR HAR, the joke's on them. (I credit Nicole--whose whole blog is about getting kids to eat well--for this brilliant idea left in the comments of last week's post.)
So the next time you sit down to a meal, serve up the veggies and Let The Games Begin.
What mealtime games have you used?
For more tips, check out the party going on at Rocks In My Dryer.
Final tip in the series is next week--stay tuned!
5 comments:
Okay, do you hide the onions, too? Do you "allow" your little ones to pick them out of food? MEMORIES!!
Thanks for the post. It made me smile! I wonder if my toddler would feel sorry for the veggies too...
Very funny.... btw, I always enjoy your comments over at "Honey I Fed the Kids".
Thankfully I don't have to sneak the veggies in at my house. But I need some help getting the 9 year old to eat meat! He'll eat sushi but rather starve than eat a good ol' hamburger!
Glad you liked my tip on getting kids to eat veggies and hoping it works as well for you as it does for me.
Thanks for the link love and the endorsement.
I'm also planning to post a series of tips to get kids to eat vegetables but its still in the planning stage. I have loved reading your tips.
I play lots of games at dinner with my kids and my kids friends when they join us as it an easy and fun way to avoid the dinner battle. You can find a list of games we play here; http://yucktoyum.com/its-okay-to-play-airplanes/
I like that tip on setting aside veggies for the kids to sneak while I'm preparing. The video was a riot - amazing what works with the little ones.
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