Helpful Tips on Raising a Happy Child

[kittygrrl]

"Eat your veggies, they are good for you" was always greeted with various icky faces with not much success, so I found different ways to introduce veggies without making it a battle. Here are a few:

I made a "No, thank you" bite rule. They had to try it at least once before they could say, no thanks.

I pureed raw or cooked veggies into meatloaf, fruit smoothies etc. (this worked excellently!)

I introduced new veggies by renaming them something appealing to a child
carrots became pinnochio pencils, spinach became silly grass, broccoli became jillybean trees

I mixed dried fruit into raw veggies (i still do this for myself)

Try it raw, instead of cooking them! Cut and slice and make little faces, or animals and serve them on their own individual plates

Plant a garden together-I had mine help me with pea patch and i never had any problems with peas! There is nothing more yummy then picking a pod and eating raw peas out of it.

Lastly-cook with your kids, have them help you by casually making them in charge of the veggies. This almost always worked because they wanted to taste what they had made.