When I was a preschool teacher and camp counselor, I saw my fair share of kids who hated to eat healthy foods.
Green.
No way, not gonna eat it.
Vegetable.
Absolutely not.
Fruit.
Maybe, but only if it is exceptionally ripe, delicious upon the first bite, AND my favorite color.
Kids can have a laundry list of expectations when it comes to foods that they’ll actually eat. The challenge to get some toddlers to eat new foods can be very real. But, once I had my own children, I realized that there was one little trick that I needed to keep in mind when encouraging my kids to eat healthy.
My daughter loved to eat all types of different foods from the beginning.
Feeding Lil was pretty darn easy. I made her baby food, encouraged her to eat broccoli as her first finger food, and took for granted her willingness to try new foods.
Then, I had my son.
My son knows exactly what he likes to eat and exactly what he doesn’t. I admire his decisiveness really…
Over the years, I’ve realized that he goes through stages where he is more willing to try new foods, and when that happens, I fill up his plate with foods that I have been dying for him to try: zucchini, honey dew, peas, kale, green beans…the list goes on and on.
But, when he’s not in an adventurous mood, there is one thing that I always remember to do…
I put healthy food on his plate during every meal & mine too.
Did you catch that?
Sometimes it’s so easy to pile up our kid’s plates with healthy foods because we know that we should, but then we simply forget about our own plates.
I often make the excuse that we are low on fruit, so I can’t spare any to put on my own plate. How silly does that sound?
It’s so important that we parents take care of our own health, too. Because kids are always watching…
So, every meal (sometimes begrudgingly), I *try* to put a healthy veggie and a healthy fruit on their plate AND mine.
The Long Term Goal
The reason that I always put it on the plate for both of my kids as well as my own is that my toddler eats what I eats.
That’s right.
There are days when he sees me pick up a piece of food and wants to take the exact same bite. It doesn’t always happen that way, but it’s easier to say, “Let’s both take a bite of broccoli,” then barking at him, “Eat your veggies!”
I don’t make it a big deal and I never force them to eat the food, but I always want them to see it on all of our plates. Because I want them to see that having fruits and veggies every day is a daily occurrence, not just when you want to have a treat or reward afterwards.
And, on good days, they both shock me and eat every last healthy bite. And, I do too.
Worried about wasting food?
I put very small amounts of food on my toddlers plate and my kids can always ask for more. For example, two small pieces of broccoli, two pieces of honey dew/melon, five or so grapes, a few carrot sticks, etc.
Starting your own compost is a great way to deal with the leftover scraps as well.
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