“𝐀 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫!“
So today, in this blog, we are answering the number one concern among parents and caregivers, i.e. children being picky eaters or not naturally reaching out for fruits and vegetables. The risk it comes with is that it makes them prone to unhealthy snacking!
When it comes to planning and serving healthy meals, it is essential to be creative and innovative to strike a balance between taste, nutrition, favourites, expenses, and more.
But have you ever noticed how we rarely complain about what we build or make with our own hands? Replicating the same sense of involvement, it would be a good idea to involve children and give them some ownership around making and planning meals. So, hold your little partner’s hand, get onto making your grocery list, planning weekly food chart, and enjoying the goodness together!
Here are some ideas for you:
- 1. See-food
Yes, you read it right! We are not talking about “seafood,” but “seeing” the fruits and vegetables differently. Make sure to keep fruits and vegetables where your children can see them—places like table-tops or front shelves of the fridge or stands where you usually keep your snacks. Make sure to keep snack-sized packets accessible for your children. These snack-sized packets can be filled with raw fruits and veggies, or you can try making vegetable chips at home for children. So now, keep fruits and vegetables at places where children look and go for food first whenever they feel hungry. You can also have fun with cute-shaped fruit cutters! (This might be a little extra and is totally optional. Also, we don’t encourage the use of plastic cutters or cutlery or props. )
- 2. Alphabetical fruits and vegetables- It’s as easy as ABC
The first thing that school teaches is alphabets. We all have learnt A for apple and B for ball. Now it’s time for our children to make their own list of things with each letter of the alphabet. Why not A for apricot and B for broccoli? Fusion of learning along with eating healthy can be a little innovative. Let your child use their imagination to find more fruit and vegetable names and make their own ABCs. As they learn new names of vegetables and fruits, their curiosity to know about these plants will grow. This technique will not just keep your children busy to find new words, but you can also introduce new fruits and vegetables to them by including those in your child’s food menu. This method can lead to healthy learning along with making your child fall in love with their healthy friends.
- 3. Play with the rainbow
Children love colours, don’t they? So why not include these natural colours in the food plan. You should not just stick to green vegetables or red apples when you include fruits and vegetables in a meal for your child. Why? Because every colour of food has unique and special nutritional value. A colourful plate will not only make your child excited to eat, but it is one of the easy ways to make them eat healthily. Even doctors advise eating at least two different colours of fruits and three different colours of vegetables every day. Also, introduce the idea of having seasonal and locally-grown fruits and vegetables to little ones.
- 4. Half a plate diet check
While preparing a food plate for your child, plan a diet that has the right amounts of fruits, veggies, grains, proteins, and dairy products. Fill half of your child’s plate with fruits and vegetables, one-fourth of the plate with protein-rich food, and the remaining one-fourth with grains that can be your roti made of multigrain flour, rice, etc., that will fulfil the requirements of carbs for the child. This is an easy way for any parent to create a proper whole nutrition diet plan for their child. Also, it might be a good idea to introduce them to these concepts- the carbohydrates, proteins, fibre, vitamins, and more- early on so that they are less prone to getting caught up in diet fads and are more encouraged to respect the nourishing food.
- 5. Super six “S”
If you are still confused about how to include fruits and veggies in your child’s diet here, you just need to remember these super six “S” while making a meal – salad, sandwich, smoothies, snack packs, soup, and stew. Salads can be made with raw fruits or vegetables. Children love sandwiches, and you can put vegetables in them. Smoothies are better than juices as smoothies contain more nutrition and fibre than juices (and you can always sneak in spinach, dates, and more, and no one would ever know!). Keep your snack packs ready for your child’s hunger pangs in between the meals. When schools reopen, you can add this to your child’s tiffin. Soups and stewed fruits and vegetables have one thing in common – water. You can put many vegetables in soups with the added dose of love from your heart and hands.
- 6. Let your child grow their vegetables
Children love to play and dig in the mud. Why not add purpose to this playtime! You can grow your own vegetables in your backyard or your apartment or even in small pots if space is a constraint. One can easily grow low-maintenance and easy-to-grow vegetables like peas, brinjal, spinach, carrots, radish, spring onions, and herbs like mint and coriander. It will not just bring your child closer to nature but will also teach them new skills like patience and help them gain confidence. This activity also helps strengthen the parent-child bond as you both do gardening together. As children grow their own food, they will respect both the food and the nature even more. It will also introduce them to the science behind plant growth in the most subtle way.
Conclusion
As the challenges with unhealthy or fussy eating evolve, we as parents need to keep reinventing and come up with new ideas for our children’s mental and physical health. Fruits and vegetables are essential for a child’s growth and immune system. At the same time, there should be no need for caregivers to force them to consume vegetables and fruits. Instead, we can try building and strengthening our partnership with our children and keep encouraging their involvement. These tips will surely make your child reach out for more fruits and vegetables. Let the children get friendlier with their food and respect the goodness that the Mother Earth provides us with, so pure and natural.
