My daughter won't eat meat. Although my husband and I occasionally eat meat, my daughter just doesn't like it. She is almost a natural vegetarian - she occasionally likes chicken nuggets or tuna. This really isn't cause for me to worry though, as many of the other foods she likes are protein rich. So much so, that she is getting what she needs.
It can be discouraging when children just won't eat certain foods. People often try to trick their kids by adding pureed veggies to random foods or forcing and coercing kids to try the foods they want them to eat. What we really need to do is stop plotting and worrying and start making food fun! You heard it right, I'm advocating playing with your food!
Since my daughter was about 2 or 3, she has been hearing about superfoods, helping me make her food, and having tea parties several times a week. Make eating fun, let kids be part of the creation and decision process. Teach them little bits every day about what food is for our bodies. No, it's not fuel! I hear people say that food is to our bodies as fuel is to our cars. Do you have a car that uses fuel to fix that crack in the windshield, or pump up a flat tire? Our body uses the nutrients in food to fix our bodies, help them grow, make them strong, help us think, and on and on! A lot more than giving us energy to go!
{Visit the
USDA pyramid site for serving size recommendations for kids. They also have fun online games and printable worksheets.}
Fun ways to eat nutritious foods:
Edamame is delicious and fun! (soybeans) We like to buy it frozen and unshelled. I just steam or microwave until warm, sprinkle a little sea salt over the top, and serve!
Peanut and Almond Butter served with whole grain crackers, sliced apples and celery for dipping.
Vegetable Art: serve cut up veggies in a bowl and with an empty plate. Kids can use the plate as a canvas and the veggies as their paint. Turn cauliflower into clouds, celery stalks into tree trunks, etc. After you've completed your art project - eat it!
Make
fruit smoothies together. Use only wholesome ingredients like: fruit, fruit juice, yogurt, honey, etc. NO ice cream, sherbet or sugar. Instead of ice, use half of your fruit frozen.
Have a
rainbow week. On Monday eat only green vegetables and fruits, Tuesday is orange, Wednesday is red, and so on. Colors tell us the nutrients in the foods, so our bodies need to eat a rainbow!
Produce Detective: When shopping at the grocery store, have kids search out a fruit or veggie that they want to try. Buy a few and try them a couple of different ways.
Invite some friends over for a
cooking class party. This is not as hard as you think - I have held kids cooking classes with over 50 attendees. I'll be adding kids cooking class party plans on this blog at a later date.
Chart it: Put a sticker on a chart for every fruit and veggie eaten every day. Plan rewards, like a picnic in the park, for reaching a goal.
Mix it up: Let each child make their own trail mix (set up ingredients like a salad bar: dried fruits like cranberries, raisins, apricots, coconut, etc., freeze dried berries and veggies, nuts, seeds, cereal, etc.). They can then name their creation, design packaging and have their siblings and friends take turns trying the different mixes. (Packaging can consist of snack size ziploc baggies and plain sticker mailing labels. Stick a plain label on each baggie and provide crayons for the artwork.)
Tea parties: I set up a dinner plate or small platter with a selection of "snack foods" like fresh berries, grapes, cucumbers, baby carrots, sliced cheese, crackers, rolled up sliced turkey, etc. I then serve this on a table covered with a table cloth (pink, of course), small salad or dessert plate to eat from, cup and saucer for the "tea" which is usually warmed water with mint and lemon wedges with a little honey to sweeten or 100% fruit juice.
String Bean Cafe: When I worked as a wedding planner, a couple of sisters I worked with told me of pretending to run a restaurant when they were kids. I loved this idea and have done it many times. Naming your restaurant and making signs and menus are fun art projects. Have the kids help make the food and set the table. Then take turns coming to the restaurant and being waited on.
Seafood: Make a meal that's a play on words. This "seafood" dinner is actually a turkey or veggie hotdog "octopus", macaroni "sea shells" & cheese, and a green "seaweed" salad. Cut the hotdog in half legnth wise about 3/4 of the way through, leaving the top 1/4 to be the head. Turn it over and cut again in half legnthwise 3/4 of the way through. You'll now have a hotdog with the top 1/4 whole and 4 attached "legs". Cook covered in boiling water. The "legs" will curl up as it cooks and look like octopus legs.
What are some fun things you do?
I know you're thinking, there is no such thing as too much chocolate! I used to think that too, until I had a booth at a chocolate festival. I heard 1000's (that's thousands) of times "Oh, I couldn't eat another bite!" and "I've had too much chocolate." and my personal favorite "I think I'm gonna puke!"
