Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet, Vegetables and Kid's nutrition

Many parents struggle to get their children to eat vegetables. Whenever I talk to parents about kid’s nutrition, it’s the primary question everyone wants an answer to.

A report today in the Good Living section of the SMH suggests a system of rewards and prizes. During August the Sydney Market’s Fresh for Kids programme trialled a campaign in NSW, ACT and Queensland.

Called get on board and win the trial resulted in a 97% increase in the amount of fruit and veg consumed by kids, which amounts to 140,000 pieces of fruit and vegetable over the month.

How it works

Each time a child bought a piece of fruit or some vegetables from the school canteen, they were praised and rewarded with a sticker and token. The tokens could be collected and swapped for wristbands and there was also a family holiday to Queensland to be won. This concentrated focus on vegetables is similar to the Food Dudes programme I’ve also blogged about.

This is a pretty startling improvement in fruit and vegetable consumption and something that could be developed further for long-term use in school canteens. However, I’m not sure this is applicable to the home environment. Setting up a pattern where kids are rewarded for eating fruit and vegetables at home, when these should be a normal part of their meal, may not be the best message. What happens if you don’t have any rewards on a particular day? What happens if your kids get bored of the existing rewards – do you then have to provide bigger and better incentives?

Six ways to get your kids to eat more veg

Certainly support, praise and encouragement are important, but there are also a number of other strategies you can try:

• Include 2 – 3 vegetables on the dinner plate every day. This is important in establishing the principle of what a normal meal looks like. A normal meal is not just meat and potatoes, it includes vegetables. Even if your kids don’t eat them, they should be there every day. For more suggestions on how to use vegetables see what does five serves of vegies look like
• Involve your kids in the meal planning. When shopping, get them to pick out the vegetables for that week; ask them if they’d prefer their carrots raw or steamed; would they prefer sweet potato tonight or pumpkin? Having a say in what they are eating, means they’re more likely to actually eat it.
• Involve your kids in the cooking, even if it’s just once a week. Again, they’re more likely to eat something they’ve been involved in making. Don’t just make cakes and biscuits with your kids, ask them to help you make normal family meals.
• Tell them vegetables will help them grow up big and strong. Promote vegetables as being important for their health. Call them “superfoods”, the sort of thing that superheroes eat.
• Hide the vegetables in what you’re making. Add vegetables to soups and then puree the lot; make a risotto with the vegetables grated through; make fritters (recipe to follow for zucchini fritters) and burgers that include vegetables.
• Most importantly . . . lead by example. If you’re not eating vegies then your kids will very quickly spot this and if dad isn’t touching his broccoli, then why should they?

Along the way there may well be ups and downs. One week your kids will eat everything on their plate and the next they’ll decide they hate tomatoes and carrots, but keep on persisting and giving them a full range of foods. Vegetables are important and both you and your kids need them every day.

Update: I’ve just added the link to the Zucchini Fritters recipe – these are really good and a great way to “disguise” vegies. If your kids don’t like fetta, replace it with another cheese (grated).

10 October, 2006