This entry was posted on Saturday, September 26th, 2009 at 7:08am and is filed under Parenting, Produce, Health, Food Production. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Jenny at Nourished Kitchen commented that enjoying fruits and veggies is the key to getting kids to eat them and eat healthier. She says it as well or better than I could. I especially enjoyed her comments about the long-term effect on food preferences of eating a varied diet when breastfeeding.
I am lucky to have boys with broad tastes and an appreciation for good nutrition. Two things I think have helped immensely:
First, the family garden: My boys help plan the garden, choosing species and varieties they want to eat. Our garden time is treated as special time with Mom, not a chore. Sure, they might not always be the most help, but hearing them have adventures as they pull paths through the weeds to rescue “John Porter” (a tomato variety) is better than hired help any day. Choosing varieties such as purple carrots, purple beans and red lettuce, growing and harvesting make eating them a celebration, not a chore. Add in having them help cook it, and you’ve made huge strides in expanding their palate.
Second, a supportive school program. The Montessori school they attended for the past three years made lunch part of the curriculum. It was delightful to have my then-5-year old lecture me about needing to have fresh vegetables, not canned for dinner. They are now in public school, they have a great perspective on the school lunch menu. They will often choose to take their lunch based on what they helped prepare or on the “junkiness” of the school food. I realize I am indeed lucky to have children opt for homemade meatloaf over the school corndog and tater tots.
October 7th, 2009 at 11:46am
[…] Our friend Sara at the Down To Earth blog shares two of the key factors that help her family keep their taste for good foods. At the heart of it is the family garden where the kids play a role in bringing food to the table. And outside, good old Montessori school reinforces to Sara’s children that food is an event in life worth learning about. See what she says in her post here: Getting your children to ENJOY veggies and fruits […]
October 7th, 2009 at 8:38pm
I have to add that watching little or no TV helps, too. When we do watch children’s channels (usually at someone else’s house), it amazes me how much of the advertising is for “food” that really isn’t food.
Although they used to beg for that stuff, they no longer even consider it.