Kids are known to be picky eaters. And unfortunately, their pickiness is usually exhibited as an aversion to all things healthy – especially vegetables. So, what can you do to get your kids to eat the healthy veggies that you know that they should be eating? Here are some tips for helping your kids fit veggies into their meals:

Hide veggies in their favorites

One of the easiest ways to get your kids to eat veggies is for them to not know that they are eating veggies. This is a little sneaky, but the payoff is great! Using a food processor, add normally unpopular vegetables such as cauliflower and broccoli to favorites like macaroni and cheese, spaghetti sauce, or meatloaf. Once your kids have grown accustomed to enjoying food that’s secretly stuffed with veggies, reveal the veggies and don’t be surprised if the kids let you know that they would be fine with eating the veggies on their own.

Provide encouragement

Telling your kids that veggies are really healthy for them and that, even though they might not like the taste, they really should eat them isn’t enough motivation for kids. On the other hand, being wildly happy and encouraging to your kids when they eat their vegetables makes sense to kids. So much of what kids want is simply to make their parents happy. If you let your kids see that eating vegetables is something that they can do to make their Mom or Dad ridiculously happy, that might be all the encouragement that they need.

Provide incentives

It can be helpful to let your kids know that they will have access to food that they would prefer after they finish their vegetables. If kids have access to foods other than vegetables at the same time that they are asked to finish their veggies, they might struggle with the temptation to move onto the foods that they would rather have. Because of this, consider serving your kids their meals in courses. Course number one can be their veggies, and then the subsequent course(s) can include items that the kids might rather have.
Use these tips to help your kids get the veggies that they need in a way that they’ll like.
What are you tips for getting more veggies into your child’s meals?