Grow Your Own
One of the most effective solutions for helping a fussy eater to get over their aversion to vegetables is to get them involved and actually growing what they will eat. Nothing beats the satisfaction of seeing something go from a seed, to a first green shoot, to a plant, to a crop you can pick.
Don't start the conversation by suggesting to grow the vegetables we eat! Kids aren't daft. They'll see straight through you and only see red flags..
Instead, ask for their help to create the vegetable plot. The first time I did this, my son was four years old and only ate 'yellow' food - french fries, chicken nuggets, hash browns, waffles. We talked about starting a vegetable plot and when I came home with a small shovel for him, the two of us started tuning over the soil and creating the space.
We started simple, just carrots and bizarrely there was never once a comment that, 'I don't like carrots'. Instead, he quite happily created a couple of troughs and spread out the seeds, one by one ! ! ! We covered the seeds and he used the hose to spray the veg plot, most of the surrounding garden, and both of us.
Every day we watered and checked, watered and checked. We were almost losing hope when two weeks later the first green shoot appeared closely followed by many more over the next four days. Following the instructions we thinned out the crop a week or so later, but as my son couldn't bear to throw the excess away, we created a third row.
Time rolled on and the shoots turned to leaves and thickened until we had three rows of fluffy green carrot tops.
With all ceremony we went out to decide which looked biggest so we could pick the first of our crop. He picked one and I showed him how to grab hold of the leaves and pull one out. He reached down and with some grunting and effort for carrots popped out.
His face was priceless - total delight! Before I could say anything, he was off, screaming for his mum to show her what he had grown. By the time I caught up, a chair had been brought up to the sink and he was standing on it and washing his carrots under the tap.
My wife looked over his shoulder and said she couldn't believe how good they looked. He turned around, still balancing on the chair and offered her one. She took it and was about to bite it when she stopped and said, “you grew them, you should get to go first!”
Crunch time, literally! I held my breath, envisioning the yellow food he loves. Then I heard the crunch as he bit into it, and started chewing.
"How is it?" We asked in unison
"Amazing. he mumbled with a mouthful as he took another bite." Much better than the shop ones!" he confirmed.
Oh my goodness, we were delighted and never imagined this could have worked so well. Over the following weeks we harvested, we cooked and he kept on eating his carrots, it was amazing. All the while though, I was watching the crop get smaller.
One lunchtime, my wife made a dip and among the veg and other stuff she had for us to dip into it, were some baby carrots. My son took one look and said," they're not mine, I don't like them!" Wow, all our progress, gone, I was gutted.
The next day when I got home from work I couldn't help but notice that the number of green leaves sprouting out of the garden had grown?
Going through the door I said hi to my son and raised an eyebrow towards my wife. she smiled shyly. Out of earshot she said, "saw them at the shop today, so I bought and planted them.
"Did he notice?" I asked.
"Of course, but I just said more must have grown.” she said." He's already been out, and picked some for dinner.''
While it was a little underhand, we both put this into the 'little white lie' bucket and given that he was happily eating 'his' carrots again. I was very ok with it.
She kept this up for quite a while, even having to use some packet carrots which didn’t have leaves. She just told him to dig deeper as sometimes not all the carrots come out when you pull the leaves. Crisis averted!
So the moral of the story is, not that its ok to lie to your kids, no. It is that getting them involved, building some passion and pride through growing their own food really works. It’s important on so many levels, achieving something, seeing a challenge through even though it takes time and effort and understanding how life works. All with the added bonus they may eat more veg!
And, don’t forget, plant more than you think you'll need ...........
Don't start the conversation by suggesting to grow the vegetables we eat! Kids aren't daft. They'll see straight through you and only see red flags..
Instead, ask for their help to create the vegetable plot. The first time I did this, my son was four years old and only ate 'yellow' food - french fries, chicken nuggets, hash browns, waffles. We talked about starting a vegetable plot and when I came home with a small shovel for him, the two of us started tuning over the soil and creating the space.
We started simple, just carrots and bizarrely there was never once a comment that, 'I don't like carrots'. Instead, he quite happily created a couple of troughs and spread out the seeds, one by one ! ! ! We covered the seeds and he used the hose to spray the veg plot, most of the surrounding garden, and both of us.
Every day we watered and checked, watered and checked. We were almost losing hope when two weeks later the first green shoot appeared closely followed by many more over the next four days. Following the instructions we thinned out the crop a week or so later, but as my son couldn't bear to throw the excess away, we created a third row.
Time rolled on and the shoots turned to leaves and thickened until we had three rows of fluffy green carrot tops.
With all ceremony we went out to decide which looked biggest so we could pick the first of our crop. He picked one and I showed him how to grab hold of the leaves and pull one out. He reached down and with some grunting and effort for carrots popped out.
His face was priceless - total delight! Before I could say anything, he was off, screaming for his mum to show her what he had grown. By the time I caught up, a chair had been brought up to the sink and he was standing on it and washing his carrots under the tap.
My wife looked over his shoulder and said she couldn't believe how good they looked. He turned around, still balancing on the chair and offered her one. She took it and was about to bite it when she stopped and said, “you grew them, you should get to go first!”
Crunch time, literally! I held my breath, envisioning the yellow food he loves. Then I heard the crunch as he bit into it, and started chewing.
"How is it?" We asked in unison
"Amazing. he mumbled with a mouthful as he took another bite." Much better than the shop ones!" he confirmed.
Oh my goodness, we were delighted and never imagined this could have worked so well. Over the following weeks we harvested, we cooked and he kept on eating his carrots, it was amazing. All the while though, I was watching the crop get smaller.
One lunchtime, my wife made a dip and among the veg and other stuff she had for us to dip into it, were some baby carrots. My son took one look and said," they're not mine, I don't like them!" Wow, all our progress, gone, I was gutted.
The next day when I got home from work I couldn't help but notice that the number of green leaves sprouting out of the garden had grown?
Going through the door I said hi to my son and raised an eyebrow towards my wife. she smiled shyly. Out of earshot she said, "saw them at the shop today, so I bought and planted them.
"Did he notice?" I asked.
"Of course, but I just said more must have grown.” she said." He's already been out, and picked some for dinner.''
While it was a little underhand, we both put this into the 'little white lie' bucket and given that he was happily eating 'his' carrots again. I was very ok with it.
She kept this up for quite a while, even having to use some packet carrots which didn’t have leaves. She just told him to dig deeper as sometimes not all the carrots come out when you pull the leaves. Crisis averted!
So the moral of the story is, not that its ok to lie to your kids, no. It is that getting them involved, building some passion and pride through growing their own food really works. It’s important on so many levels, achieving something, seeing a challenge through even though it takes time and effort and understanding how life works. All with the added bonus they may eat more veg!
And, don’t forget, plant more than you think you'll need ...........