Persuading kids to become good eaters
Ever tell your kids that spinach will give them big muscles, and carrots, laser vision?
Or resorted to the “you’re-not-going-to-grow” line when they won’t eat their greens?
We barter, beg, frighten and preach to get our children to eat right. But instead of trying to convince kids that healthy food is good for them, wouldn’t it be easier and less stressful to simply convince them that it’s good?
“What speaks to kids? That vegetables prevent heart disease or that jicama is crunchy, sweet and refreshing?” asks Sanna Delmonico during a presentation at last month’s Healthy Flavors, Healthy Kids conference held at the Culinary Institute of America San Antonio campus.
Delmonico, a nutrition instructor at the CIA in Napa Valley, Calif., said using positive messages when talking to kids about food and nutrition may be too abstract for them.
“Nutrition can be interesting stuff, but what’s more concrete and compelling is the food itself — the food is delicious, and it’s colorful, and it’s tactile and involves every sense,” Delmonico says during a subsequent telephone interview.
So instead of telling kids that Brussels sprouts have lots of vitamin C and K and fiber, and that they can’t have a cookie unless they eat them, frame a food as something they wouldn’t want to miss.
Delmonico suggests using phrases such as:
“Doesn’t it look good?”
“Have you tried it?”
“Look at how colorful and delicious it is.”
In short, encourage your kids to enjoy healthy foods for the flavors and pleasures they bring.
It’s the repeated, positive food experiences that will get kids to become so-called “good eaters,” Delmonico says. “You change behavior through the enjoyment of foods.”
To enhance the experience, get children involved in all aspects of food prep, including shopping, gardening and cooking. “They can peel garlic, rip lettuce or set the table. The more they’re involved, the more they’re likely to try things,” she says.
To keep the peace, serve at least one food everyone likes and, when introducing a new food, serve it with something kids already know and enjoy. “If they’re familiar with carrots, maybe serve carrots with a food they’re not sure about, like parsnips,” says Delmonico.
“Sometimes they learn to like things slowly, but that’s OK,” she says.
Meanwhile, relax if they skip on the unfamiliar vegetable and keep the focus on family and conversation. “The point of the family meal is to reconnect with the most important people in your life. It should be an enjoyable time, not a time to struggle over Brussels sprouts,” says Delmonico.
Think about the long-term goal, she says. “Is the goal to get them to eat five bites of Brussels sprouts on this day and at this particular meal or to be a healthful eater in their lifetime?”
What won’t help is being a short-order cook when they don’t like your dinner menu. Not only is it too much work for adults, but when there’s always mac and cheese, why would they try anything else?
“It doesn’t help kids expand and push themselves,” Delmonico says. “If they can fall back on the familiar, there’s no incentive.”
Claudia Zapata is a registered dietitian. Her column appears every other Sunday in Taste. Email Claudia at czhealth@gmail.com, follow her on Twitter at @ClaudiaZapata and on Facebook at Claudia Zapata, MS, RD.
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