Yes! My outspoken 2 year old loves to eat vegetables! I consider
this as quite an accomplishment because most kids are not easily
won over when it comes to eating their veggies. Okay, so what did
I do to get to this point? Below is my Top 10 List of ways I
encourage my toddler to eat vegetables with joy and satisfaction.
Starting with...
#10: Junk Free Pantry
-Usually, packaged food = processed food
-My pantry contains:
canned tomato sauce blue corn chips
chicken broth crackers
bread cheerios
pasta oatmeal
rice peanut butter
beans potatoes
baking supplies such as flour, sugar, etc.
-That's it, nothing else!
-We read books such as Peter Rabbit getting into
Mr. McGregor's Garden.
-This type of book is filled with the
wonderful events in gardens and talks about
fruits, vegetables, etc.
- Sometimes my toddler will ask me, "Did this come
from Mr. McGregor's garden?" when I give him
veggies to snack on.
#8 Lead by example
- My husband and I do not eat a lot of bad stuff
in front of him.But if we do, it's after dinner has been
eaten.
#7 "Little Chef"
- My 2 year old sits on the counter and helps me cook.
-Even if it's just stirring something, he is involved.
- Before we go shopping, we sit down and make a list of
things we need at the store.
- Then he colors his list.
- At the grocery store, we have fun smelling and picking out
the produce and checking off our list.
#5 Healthy Snacks are Always in the Kitchen
- While I'm cooking dinner, he usually likes to come and
see what I'm doing and wants a snack. So I offer him
vegetables that I'm chopping up like bell pepper (yes, he
eats them raw and is excited about it) or carrots.
#4 Large Carrots
- There is something fun about eating a large
carrot like Bugs Bunny.
#3 Refrigerator Shelf
- The bottom shelf in the refrigerator is
completely his shelf.
- I fill this shelf with convenient, easy
snacks that he can help himself with all day.
- I include things like miniature boxes of raisins,
small packages of almonds, carrots, slices of
bell pepper, grapes, bananas, clementines.
- No matter what, I always have something in
there for him, and he loves to use it because
it is his very own shelf.
#2 Spinach Can Hide in Almost Anything
- My 2 year old loves spinach and will eat it by
the spoonfuls but I still cook it in anything from
taco meat to spaghetti sauce and it really does
not make the dish taste different.
And my #1 tip is....
Grow Vegetables
- Last year we had our first garden and
it was so much fun.
- My little boy was involved from the start
of planting the seeds, to the watering every
evening, to the harvesting.
- He had so much fun watching things grow
and when we picked our vegetables, he
watched/helped me cook them and he ate
and when we picked our vegetables, he
watched/helped me cook them and he ate
them with such joy.
- If space is an issue, green beans are
really easy to grow in just a pot.
really easy to grow in just a pot.
So, I think that it is possible for kids to like and
enjoy eating fruits and vegetables but it is something
that has to be incorporated in their every day lives.
enjoy eating fruits and vegetables but it is something
that has to be incorporated in their every day lives.
