How many of us do this? We are making dinner, there is a pile of chopped veggies ready to go and our children come up to grab some. We tell them,
“no, that’s for dinner.”
They want to eat veggies right now, why not let them?! Even if they full up on veggies for dinner, nothing is wrong with that. Maybe even have another pile on the chopping board that is for them, that they are allowed to grab. Or if you have a cheeky child like myself; pretend that they are been sneaky when grabbing the veggies – when actually you have left them on the chopping board for them anyway!
Make it Fun
Something that seems to work well for my children is making it fun, so it may be plating up their meals differently. I was lucky enough to be gifted a spiralizer from my brother for Christmas last year, and it is amazing! The kids love it, their favourites are carrot noodles, zucchini noodles, and apple noodles. So much fun for the little ones! Or a very simple option for kids, is serving up a platter for dinner, and let them pick off the foods they want to enjoy. You might be surprised at what they pick to eat.
Think outside the ‘snack’ box
When we think ‘snacks’, quite often we automatically think, dried fruit, crackers, muesli bars. Snacks can be a chicken drumstick, chia seed pudding, bliss balls, veggie sticks with hummus, don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with an apple, but again, trying to think how can I get more veggies into their diet too. My 2 year old loves his containers of cherry tomatoes, capsicum, carrot, bean and celery sticks (even little broccoli heads), which he dips into hummus or peanut butter. Sneaking veggies into meals is a great strategy, I do this all the time! I once put broccoli into their dessert… but also try to encourage them to eat them in their original form, as they learn what each tastes like.
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