"One of the things I want to accomplish now that I work from home is giving my family healthier food to eat."

How do I get my kids to eat vegetables?

Based on an article by Carrie Robertson

Finding, buying, preparing, and eating high quality produce is harder for busy working families. Often, nutritious, balanced meals are replaced by questionable restaurant food, easy to prepare processed foods and fast foods. But there is heightened awareness that there is no substitute for high quality food and now that you work from home you’re determined to get your family to eat healthier food for the health benefits.

Experts agree that the best way to encourage children to try new foods (and even enjoy them!) is to allow them to be involved in the process... something that's easier for you to do now that you work from home. Shopping, growing produce, selecting recipes, assisting with cooking, and family mealtimes were all mentioned as tools to engage our children in the food process.

But you wonder: “Will they REALLY eat the vegetables?”.

Lynn Fredericks pointed out that for most children, it might take multiple introductions before a child will try something new.

“One thing that parents need to understand is that after all of us pass out of the infant stage, there is a natural aversion to putting ANYTHING unfamiliar in our mouths. It’s something we need to be understanding of as we try to introduce new foods to children. It is a developmental reality that we need to be aware of and sensitive to,” says Fredericks, author of “Cooking Time Is Family Time”.

Fredericks added that we are given so many mixed messages, even from sources we trust, that it is difficult to be able to trust our own instincts about food. One thing that concerns her the most is that parents feel that they must create a separate system of meals for their children, including food that is fun or entertaining.

“There is a trend today of pandering to children, of creating separate meals and processed foods for them. I wish parents could see through the fallacy of this, and instead recognize that food is food”. Fredericks recommends that parents move away from thinking that they need to provide special “children’s food” to their kids, and instead offer satisfying foods that can be prepared and enjoyed by the whole family at a meal.

Chef Ann Cooper, known as the “Renegade Lunch Lady” expresses deep concern for the trend toward poor health currently facing our children today, including the skyrocketing rates of diabetes. “We could reverse the trends if we just spent a little time and attention including kids in the choices we make about the food they eat,” said Cooper. “Many parents also worry about the higher cost that is sometimes associated with buying nutritious foods. But I wish parents would understand the horrible cost of unhealthy diets that our children, and our society, will pay in the future.”

This is a belief expressed by many experts in the field of food and food production.

All of the subjects interviewed for this article agreed that the best way to encourage children to try new foods (and even enjoy them!) was to allow them to be involved in the process. Shopping, growing produce, selecting recipes, assisting with cooking, and family mealtimes were all mentioned as tools to engage our children in the food process.

“When everyone can be involved in that process, sit down, socialize, and enjoy a meal together, then it is not a chore anymore.” Of course, finding the time to do this is much easier when you work from home.

One less chore…now that’s what a work from home mom likes to hear!

Please note that this information is not intended to give nutritional or medical advice.  For medical advance pleae contact a competent health professional.