This giveaway is no longer accepting entries. Congrats to this week’s winner, Laura!
There’s a reason there are so many tips and suggestions, message boards and books to help parents encourage their kids to eat vegetables. It’s a challenge. But that good news is, it’s not impossible.
UW Health Pediatric Fitness Nutritionist Marcine Braun, MS, RD, shares why getting kids involved in gardening, and going to places like the Farmer’s Market or simple the grocery store, really can make a difference. And, she offers what could be the most important piece of advice for all of us – Have patience.
Kids in the Garden
Some Simple Tips – A Recap
Getting kids involved with their food can make them more interesting in actually trying new foods. A few simple tips include:
- Go to a farmer’s market or even a grocery store that allows sampling. It helps get “buy-in” before you bring something home.
- Have the kids do the washing, cutting and arranging of veggies (as appropriate for their ages)
- Start growing. It doesn’t have to be a big garden. Just a pot on a windowsill with easy-to-grow herbs can be a great introduction.
Some Resources
- Dane County Farmer’s Market
- Wisconsin Farmer’s Markets (from the REAP Food Group)
- Gardening With Kids
- “Got Dirt?” (pdf) – A Garden Toolkit
To enter this week’s giveaway: Leave a comment on this post telling us what your kids’ favorite vegetables are.Prize: 1 – $10 Dane County Farmer’s Market gift card. No substitutions.
Rules: Giveaway closes on Sunday, August 5, 2012 at 11pm CST. Open to Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois residents only. One entry per email address is permitted. The winner will be selected using random.org and announced on Monday, July 16th as an update to this post. Come back to Growing Up Healthy on Monday for the announcement of the winner and next week’s giveaway. Subscribe to the blog and you’ll get new posts delivered to your inbox as soon as they’re posted.
My kids love lettuce and cucumbers. My daughter is pretty picky but when it comes to salads with spinach and cucumbers she does not hesitate.
My two children are very different. The 13 year old loves carrots and shys away from anything green. My 6 year old, she will try anything once. She likes green beans the best.
My one year old loves spinach. He likes to taste other leaves he finds around the yard just in case they might be spinach. Go popeye!
Kayla 4 broccoli, spinach
Warren 7 corn
William 7 corn
My kids like to sugar snap peas carrots and red bell peppers. They like to dip their veggies in ranch dressing.
Faves are carrots, snap peas, bell peppers, cucumbers, spinach, lettuce. Really, almost anything.
My 9 year old daughter likes red bell peppers, avocado, cucumber, tomatoes, peas, beets. She’ll eat salad with honey dijon dressing. She prefers broccoli steamed. She’ll usually try anything. My 8 year old son eats his veggies raw except for potatoes and kale chips. He likes spinach, cabbage, red bell peppers, carrots, and broccoli. They both like to snack on frozen peas.
My kids love artichokes, they love to dip the leaves in ranch dressing and add them to homemade pizza’s. I think it is best to try to add vegetables to sauces without them knowing, you can even add them to desserts like bars and brownies. Also if they see you eating them; they are more likely to try them too!