Kids love everything sweet and tasty. Fruits are a given, but vegetables? It is a constant question for parents on how to get their picky children to eat these green foods. Fruits and vegetables are essential to your child’s diet. How do you make them eat more?

Here are our Top 10 tips for parents:

• Cut fresh fruits and vegetables and always make them available for quick snacks. Keep the food well washed and place at an easy sight in the fridge.
• Include at least one vegetable rich in Vitamin A in one of your menus for the day.
• Include at least one fruit rich in Vitamin C in one of your menus for the day.
• Add fruits & vegetables to every meal or snack you serve to your kids. For example, add cuts of raisins, banana or strawberries to your child’s breakfast cereal.
• Top off cooked meats with fresh salads with your family’s favorite dressing.
• Serve dried fruit in replacement of candies.
• Keep cuts of frozen vegetables like carrots and peas to easily add to fried, stew and casserole dishes.
• Experiment on fun food recipes that will make fruits & vegetables more appealing to the kids.
• Engage your children to cook and prepare food with you. This will invite them more to eat what they made.
• Be a role model by not skipping meals and eating healthy. Eat together as a family as much as possible.

Advice for Parents

Do not force your child to finish what he doesn’t want to eat. There are many other ways to encourage them to eat nutritious foods. One effective method is empowering your child to choose and make what he wants to eat. Involving your child in the kitchen will help him get familiarized with different varieties of food. Sometimes, you also have to serve fruits and vegetables in different ways for your child to pick out from.

Be creative in designing food on your kids’ plates. Think about colourful vegetable or fun cuts to make food more interesting to eat. Have patience when introducing a new type of fruit or vegetable to your child. It may take more than 10 tries before they acquire its taste. Bring your kids to meals outside and have them try new healthy food in comfortable eating places.

Recipe Ideas

Serve car shaped fruit snacks to your kids after an afternoon nap. Try fancy colourful pancakes for their breakfast. Check out our fun cooking recipes!